School Drama
by OneWayToLearn
Summary: The class of Adrien and Marinette gets the task to organize a play for the Ladybug and Chat Noir appreciation week. After some interesting events - that they bring on themselves of course - they are stuck in roles they have never expected to play. Nothing new, they are just oblivious idiots as usually. T for language and shameless flirting.
1. Friday: The play

''So Collège Françoise Dupont decided that every class should do something for the upcoming Ladybug and Chat Noir appreciation week. Mainly charity events like holding a ball, a little fair selling handmade items or a basket auction. We determined which task a class get with lot and our project for the event will be organizing a play featuring our beloved heroes." Mlle Bustier said cheerfully as she started to write the roles on the board.

''A play? How lame!" Complained Chloe right away.

Their teacher fixed her with a glare and the girl went silent, then she continued as nothing happened. ''Our play will be the last event of the week, so we have plenty of time to put it together and have some fun participating in the events organized by other classes as well."

Alya raised her arm to get her teacher's attention, and Mlle Bustier encouraged her to speak up with a smile. ''Will we do it according to an already made script or can we do everything as we want?" The brunette asked with hopeful eyes.

''You are supposed to do everything on your own. I am only here to supervise so things won't go out of hand." The teacher looked around the room, her eyes lingering on one particular blonde a little longer. ''Anyway, we should choose some people who will do the organizing and backstage work then hold an audition to determine the actual roles."

''Mlle Bustier!" Chloe chirped in with an overly sweet tone.

Mlle Bustier sighed but let her speak up anyway. ''Yes, Chloe?"

''It's obvious that I am the most qualified to play the role of Ladybug. There shouldn't be a question about that."

''Sorry Chloe, but we will hold an audition. You can prove how qualified you are there."

The blonde pouted while the class not so silently laughed. Alya the loudest out of all, but even Adrien couldn't help as a few muffled snickers escaped through his fingers as he held his hand in front of his mouth.

''We should make a story full of action!" Exclaimed the young reporter excitedly.

''Come on, Alya! Again?" Groaned Nino. ''We need a love story to lure people inside!"

''Awww, that would be so romantic." Said Rose as she already started daydreaming.

''What?! No! We don't need any romance if we have enough good action scenes!" Alya argued with the other two.

''I thought you ship the two of them." Adrien turned towards the brunette with sad puppy eyes.

''Of course I do." The reporter smiled at Adrien reassuringly, then turned her gaze –or rather glare – back to her boyfriend. ''But I don't want anything too sloppy and I know all-too-well what Nino can do if he gets any say in it."

''Hey! My advices make the story exciting and everyone loves romance!" The boy snapped at his girlfriend.

''Just for your information, the best movies don't have any cliche love in them!" The girl snapped back at him.

''Just for your information, the movies considered by you as bests aren't that popular at all!" Nino said a little louder than necessary earning a shocked gasp from Alya what was followed by an angry red that started to cover her face.

Adrien looked between his friends with worry and didn't know what to do, but fortunately for all of them there was a person who didn't hesitate to stop a bloody argument before it unfolded completely.

''Before you guys reach the point when you break up for a stupid reason, can we put this argument to rest and let Mlle Bustier finish it?" Marinette gave both of them an unimpressed look and they paused in their onslaught, but only spared her a glance then went back glaring daggers at each other.

Marinette sighed. ''Okay, if you would stop with this, I have some cookies to share and oh, Alya. I have a few pictures of Ladybug on my phone I didn't show yet."

Alya's head turned in her direction with lightning speed. ''Pictures of Ladybug? Where?"

The bluenette smiled and waved her phone in front of her best friend. ''Only after class."

''Okay guys, silence." Their teacher fixed them with a calm voice and gestured to the board. ''So any of you wants to be the director, producer, scriptwriter or participate in other backstage duties like making the costumes and decor?"

''Director!" Raised his hand Nino immediately and without any other volunteer Mlle Bustier wrote his name beside the word 'director'.

''Scriptwriter, obviously." Alya followed suit with a confident smile and she got the role without complication as well.

''Dude, what do you want to be?" Nino asked Adrien who was glaring at the board with furrowed brows, full of concentration.

''I don't know, Nino. I don't really have a special talent for any of this." The model confessed with a frown.

''Dude, are you kidding? You would make an amazing Chat Noir!" His best friend stated cheerfully and missed the shock that flashed across the blond's face. ''You have green eyes, blonde hair, can fence. You are literally the perfect candidate to be Chat Noir!" The Dj said giving encouraging pats to his back.

''No, no, no! I wouldn't want to be Chat Noir!" He stammered out while slightly backing away from the Dj, waving his arms defensively in front of him.

Nino arched an eyebrow at him. ''Why?"

''Y-you know… I kind of always wanted t-to try out being an akuma and everything!" He tried and failed to find a believable reason.

His best friend looked back at him, unconvinced. ''Dude, it's no fun. Believe me. And with the statistic of our class you will get to experience it sometime in the near future for sure."

''B-but we need an akuma a-anyway, so why can't I play the role?" Adrien tried to smile but it came out as a cringe.

''If you say so…"

''Oh please! Adrien? As an akuma? Are you kidding me, right?" Suddenly Chloe joined to their conversation, uninvited. ''Sweet Adrikins can't be an akuma. The akuma should be someone scary and brutal. Like Ivan. Yes, he will be the perfect akuma!" The blonde cheered upon her brilliant idea while pointing at the boy in question.

He only grumbled something under his breath, but Mylene came to his defense right away. ''Ivan isn't scary and there is nothing brutal in him. He is the sweetest guy I know!"

''Then you should perhaps get to know more people. It's clear as day you don't have a large group of friends." Chloe answered with an evil smirk, and the girl faltered.

''That's rich coming from the girl who only has one friend and treats her as her personal slave." Marinette said with a pointed glare and Chloe snarled.

''Oh, here comes the queen of all the losers herself, Marinette Dupain-Cheng." The blonde said through gritted teeth but grinned nevertheless, still trying to have the upper hand.

''Still better than bitch of the school. Or should I say Paris?" The bluenette smirked as Chloe turned red while her snarl deepened.

''Marinette, language!" Mlle Bustier scolded the girl in a firm tone.

''Sorry, Mlle Bustier." The girl said as she turned back to face the front again.

''Mlle Bustier, you should send Marinette right to the principal's office. She just snapped at me and said all those mean things with no reason."

''For one, I didn't even raised my voice while speaking to you, and two, I had a reason you are just too stupid to understand it even if it's so fucking obvious."

''See, she is doing it again!"

''Marinette, one more time and I really have to send you to the principal."

''Sorry, Mlle Bustier."

The whole class stared in awe as Marinette put the blonde to her place yet again. It wasn't anything new though. For a while now their class president was the one fearless person who stood up against Chloe without hesitation and won every verbal fight against her. At first the spoiled girl tried to threaten her with her daddy as she did with everyone else, but after not getting any reaction out of Marinette, she had to give up on that option and find other ways to make the bluenette's life miserable.

Everyone thought that she will break after some time, but against all odds and threat Marinette's determination was unbreakable. Everyone admired her for that and Adrien was no exception.

He just stared at the girl in awe and was proud that he could call someone like her his friend. Mlle Bustier's voice brought him back from his awe-stuck state. ''Roles like the heroes, akuma and any other possible character will be decided on the audition after we got a script. Any other volunteer for backstage work?"

''I think I will go with making the costumes." Raised her hand Marinette.

''Anyone else?"

''I want to help Marinette in the backstage!" Nathaniel shot up but immediately sat back and buried his face into his folded arms on the table out of embarrassment. When he dared to peek out his eyes met with an encouraging smile from Marinette. He hid back into his arms right away.

For some unknown reason Adrien felt his chest tighten uncomfortably seeing the scene in front of him. The thought that Marinette and Nathaniel were going to work together made him uneasy.

''Sorry Nathaniel, but we need someone who makes the decor and you are our talented artist who will be the most capable of doing that."

Nathaniel head appeared from the safety of his arms and his face fell in disappointment. ''Okay…"

Adrien sighed in relief until he heard Marinette's voice.

''Don't worry Nath. We will have to work together in some parts anyway, and I will surely ask for your advice in some parts as well. I may be good with clothes but you are the more artistic out of us." The girl flashed that beautiful smile at him turning him into a puddle of goo.

And Adrien into vibrant mess.

Alya looked between her best friend and the model then shook her head at her bestie's obliviousness while Nino eyed the clearly annoyed blond.

''Adrien, are you angry or something?"

''What?!" The boy snapped back at him, but upon meeting with the Dj's confused gaze he went back to his normal self. ''No, why would I?"

''I don't know." Nino said then leaned closer to whisper to him. ''Maybe because Nath and Mari?"

''No, of course not. Why would I? We are just friends, they are just friends, we all are just friends, right?" Adrien said with a confident smile and then continued to glare at the redhead.

Nino raised an eyebrow.

Friends my ass.


	2. Saturday: The audition

Marinette and Alya were walking through the entrance of the school while the former continuously groaned out of fatigue.

''Why must we come to school when it's Saturday? Don't they know weekends should be sacred?"

The brunette only laughed at her friend's antics. ''If you spent some time of the night on actual sleep maybe you wouldn't be this tired. Why are you always so tired anyway? Are you secretly saving the city or something?"

The bluenette groaned. Alya had no idea how close she was to the actual truth. She had so much to do… designing a new dress to wear to the ball, when she only had like five days to make it. She was contemplating on skipping the entire event all together as she didn't really have enough time, but her best friend as always was persistent. And after she finally got some decent ideas, she had to sneak out to do patrol with her flirtatious partner, and because of some mugger and an incompetent police officer the night had stretched way too long.

When she had finally gotten home she had basically collapsed onto her bed and had fallen asleep right away, but she couldn't go all sweaty to school the next, or rather that day so Tikki had waken her up earlier to ensure her chosen took a nice and calming shower before she could get near other people. She didn't really had time for homework so she would have to spend another night to make up for the lost time. She was so not ready for this day.

Nevertheless she had to answer her bestie sooner rather than later. ''I was designing some dress and I lost track of the time again, and I am dead tired because of it."

''You don't say?" Alya giggled while she shook her head. ''Gurl, you should have some sleep once in a while."

''I'll try." Marinette said, then mumbled the next part out under her breath. ''Ladybug's luck my ass."

''Did you say something?"

''Nothing." The aspiring designer knew very well she had no such a luck to get a good night sleep for the next week and the thought only made her feel more tired.

''Look, the other classes are working on their projects as well and they aren't complaining." The reporter motioned to the group of students busily working on some wooden blockage, carrying beams and battens around.

''I'm pretty sure they are complaining as well." Marinette grunted out. ''What are they doing anyway?"

''Hm, let's see." Alya looked at the list of events and programs on her phone. ''They are probably building the set up for the sport festival. That will be on Monday followed by the basket auction on Tuesday and the merry fair festival on Wednesday. The ball will be on Thursday, I hope you didn't forget."

''Nope, and the play is on Friday, less than a week away. But how are they planning to raise fund with a sport festival?" Marinette arched a questioning eyebrow.

''You pay to participate in the sport events and the parents donated valuable items as prizes for the winners I suppose."

''Hm, not bad."

''Yeah, we have some great competitors out there. All programs can potentially raise enough money to win the big prize." Alya cheered excitedly.

''I just want a good night sleep for once. It would be like a dream came true." The bluenette sighed wishfully.

''Gurl, your dreams are lame."

''Sorry, but when you don't have the time to have real ones at night you have to be content with whatever you can get." Marinette tried to rub the sleepiness out of her eyes.

''That sound reasonable actually." Alya scratched her chin in thought.

''Thanks."

''You must be really tired. Reasonable thinking is not like you at all."

''Rude."

After the two friends walked inside the room of the drama club – they got to borrow it for the duration of the next week – they settled on some chairs while Mlle Bustier told some encouraging words to them then let Alya and Nino take her place and give out instructions.

Marinette was surprised that they could come up with a script within a day, and more than impressed that her two friends could actually work together like normal people. They were a good couple, but were horrible at working together so much Adrien and Marinette dreaded every group project.

''So we decided we will feature an akuma attack and some inner conflicts of heroism in our play." Started Alya.

''With a little romance." Nino added with a grin.

''With a tiny bit of romance." Alya corrected him with narrowed eyes.

''There will be a kiss at the end." The Dj's grin widened.

''Yeah…" Alya groaned lacking any enthusiasm.

Marinette giggled at the two. She could never have enough of her friends' antics. Her ear picked up on the quiet snicker beside her and she sneaked a glance at Adrien who sat next to her. He smiled and looked like he had fun, even if the dark circles under his eyes told otherwise. She became a little worried about him, and before she could think more to it the next words slipped down from her tongue without stuttering.

''Do you sleep well, Adrien?" She asked with concern, then as soon as he looked at her and locked eyes with her, her heart skipped a beat or two. Those summer green eyes stole her breath every time since that rainy day he had gave her his umbrella.

''I just had a pretty long night, nothing serious. But thank you for your concern, Mari." The blond flashed her one of his beautiful smiles. A real smile for a friend who showed concern and cared for him. Marinette was so happy to call a wonderful boy like him her friend. Even if her traitorous heart wanted more.

''So as Nathaniel is already making the decoration, Nino is the director and Max was the last really capable person to be entrusted with the task of the producer and budget specialist, that leaves only Ivan and Kim to play Chat Noir." Alya said looking at the two boys. ''Because the obvious choice-'' She glared daggers at Adrien. ''-refused to play that part for some stupid reason."

Adrien cringed. Yesterday Alya wasn't this angry. For a fact, she wasn't even annoyed with his decision, but after it turned out that the winner class gets some amazing prize her not so small competitive part had came out and she had tried to persuade him at least for one whole hour the previous afternoon to take up the role. It had costed him precious time when he could have slept, so he had became a little too frustrated and made himself very clear that there was no way he would play the role of Chat Noir. He wouldn't risk his secret identity no matter how amazing that still unknown prize was.

Kim and Ivan shrugged then the latter raised his hand. ''I feel like I wouldn't be able to play Chat's part authentically enough. I am not even the athletic type or good with words, not to mention I hate to appear in front of public."

''Yeah, and that's why Adrien would be the perfect Chat Noir. A model used to publicity. He is literally him, he could make the most amazing acting, but nooo! He wouldn't play Chat Noir!" Alya gesticulated with her arms in annoyance and growled at him.

Nino placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her. ''Alya, leave my bro alone. If he doesn't want to play that part, then he won't play it. You can't force him."

''I know." The brunette said curtly while averted her gaze and pouted. ''But I want this play to be a success."

''Hey, I'll pull it off just fine!" Kim chimed in straightening himself proudly and flexed. ''I am more than capable to impersonate Chat Noir! I am handsome, athletic and have a good sense of humor."

''I don't think you have the last one, but wouldn't need it to impersonate him anyway." Marinette said without thinking. She didn't know she said that out loud until every eyes fell on her inside the room.

''What do you mean by that, Mari?" Adrien asked confused.

''Nothing, really nothing!" She raised her arms in front of her defensively.

Everyone shrugged and went back discussing the play.

''So Kim will be our Chat Noir. Who will be our Ladybug?" Nino asked the remaining girls. ''Alya is scriptwriter, Marinette is making the costumes and Juleka is helping out with backstage work and special effects."

''It's obviously me! If I am Ladybug the play will certainly succeed!" Chloe said as she flipped back her pony tail.

''Well… Chloe… To tell you the truth…" The Dj started awkwardly because he didn't know how to tell her.

''What?" The blonde asked with rising suspicion.

''We want you to play yourself in the play." Stated out Alya confidently.

''What? Why would I need to play myself?" She cried out angrily.

''The script was written like that. We couldn't possibly leave out a person so important in almost all the akuma attacks after all. And who could play you better than yourself?" Alya said while everybody else violently nodded in agreement.

Chloe faltered. ''But I wanted to play Ladybug…"

''Let me praise it in another way. There will be a kiss at the end. Kim is Chat Noir, do you want to kiss him?" The brunette flashed her a triumphant smirk.

The blonde pouted. ''Okay, I will play myself, but it'll better be good or I call daddy!"

''You don't have to worry. You won't have to do anything you usually don't do during akuma attacks." Alya smiled reassuringly, but anyone who knew her well enough knew the evil glint in her eyes.

Mlle Bustier was a little concerned for a moment, but it came to her mind that Alya wouldn't possibly ruin her chance to win the grand prize, so she would behave… or not behave but do damage control anyway.

In the end Alix wouldn't want to be Ladybug either, as she didn't want to kiss Kim, especially in public in front of her classmates and all the parents, and Mylene kindly refused the role for the same reason as she didn't want to kiss anyone but Ivan.

Sabrina would never take a role Chloe wanted, so she declined the opportunity as well and stuck with her best friend. That left only Rose. She and Kim were instructed by Max, Alya and Nino – the latter two not arguing for once thanks to the former one – and trying to get inside the role now while the others went to work on their own tasks.

Marinette was crouched down on one knee inspecting some costumes inside a box, seeing if she could use some of them as starting point. She could hear with one of her ears as her best friend explained the scene to the two main characters.

''So you land on the rooftop and greet Ladybug. In the beginning we won't use the actual lines, you can improvise as you wish just stay in character. Remember, you are the heroes of Paris now, not some high school students."

''Okay, okay, I got it. Can we start?" Kim asked impatiently.

Adrien watched as the scene unfolded from the corner of his eye. He didn't know if Kim was really capable of pulling it off or not – somehow he doubted it, and not just out of pride – but he had no way to get a say in the matter without being suspicious, anger Alya further, or both. So he got no option but keep his distance and subtly sneak a glance or two at them time to time.

Kim walked to the edge of the stage, ready for the action.

''Take one." Nino said in a professional voice.

''Nino, we are making a play not a movie." Alya glared at him.

''It still sounds cool." The Dj answered and motioned Kim to start.

The tall boy walked towards Rose with a confident, straight stance and a gleaming smile.

It wasn't bad. It was just not Chat Noir. Adrien frowned, but swallowed his commentary before he could arouse suspicion from his peers.

''No, no, no! It's not like Chat Noir!" A voice cried out in exasperation and the model's head snapped in its direction. Marinette walked up to the jock.

Kim looked her over and raised an eyebrow. ''What's your problem? I was confident and absolute heroic."

''Chat doesn't walk like this." The bluenette said firmly.

''And how do you know that?" The tall boy narrowed his eyes at her. ''You are his biggest fan or something?"

''Me? A fan? No way!" Marinette waved dismissively with her hand.

''Then how do you know it was wrong?"

''I have to agree with Mari on this. You weren't really Chat-like." Chimed in Alya.

''I second that. I didn't get the 'Chat feeling' from it." Nodded Nino in agreement.

After hearing all of their opinions Kim faltered and rubbed the back of his neck. ''So how should I do it if not like this?"

''Chat is confident, but he walks like a model. A very show-off cat model." Marinette explained and Adrien winced internally. Show-off?

''Okaaay." Kim said dragging out on the a. ''I'll try."

The bluenette and the others nodded approvingly then everybody went back to their posts and tried it again. Kim started to walk, but Adrien could tell he was doing it all wrong again and looking at Marinette's unsatisfied expression, the blond wasn't surprised at all when the jock immediately received a harsh interruption. ''No, no, no! Cat-like for god's sake! And what's that look on your face? Chat is almost always having a flirtatious gleam in his eyes, like a sexual predator. Do it again!"

Adrien wouldn't lie, that sexual predator analogy stung, like really, but somehow seeing how his princess was so irritated with an unauthentic Chat Noir still managed to bring a smile to his face. But what was with that sexual predator thing really?

''Oh, leave me alone! I'm doing my best okay, and if it's not enough maybe you should find another guy to play the role!" Kim shouted out, clearly annoyed.

Marinette was looking him straight in the eye and they had a little staring contest, before she huffed and turned away to go back to her boxes beside the stage with a ''Fine!"

She didn't know why exactly, but it really annoyed her. Impersonate her partner least than perfect made her blood boil. Her stupid alley cat was flirtatious and idiotic sometimes, but he was sure as hell a phenomenon and only a perfect act could give back his endearingly adorkable personality she lo… cough… liked so much about him. 'Kim should at least try harder to pull it off or something.' She growled inside her head.

The jock started the scene again, still doing it wrong, but she said nothing this time, just kept narrowing her eyes more and more until they were only a slit. A very annoyed slit. She forced herself to swallow any snarky comments and watched his 'acting' intently.

Kim walked up to Rose with a smile and she smiled back at him. ''Hello Milady. How are you today? Ready for an akuma fight?"

''Thanks Chat, I am fine and ready to kick some butt." Rose chirped cheerfully.

''Nooooo!" Marinette couldn't contain it any longer as she marched up to them clearly annoyed. ''No! This was so unnatural! They would never act like this around each other!"

Alya and Nino said nothing, just like the others, as they watched in bewilderment as the whole thing unfolded. What the hell was going on with Marinette?

''Okay Dupain-Cheng, tell us your brilliant idea!" Kim glared at her with the same level of annoyance. What was with Marinette today?

''Where are the puns? Where is the flirting? The cocky grin? The casual Chat-like pose?" She gesticulated with her arms animatedly.

''Cat jokes?" Kim arched an eyebrow then turned back to Rose. ''My Lady, how do you call a cat-''

''No! Not cat jokes! Cat puns for god's sake, and flirt with her!" The bluenette cried out in frustration pulling on her hair.

''If you know it so much better, then would you be so kind and show us?" Kim asked sarcastically with an irritated smile that turned into a snarl.

''Gladly." Marinette said between gritted teeth, then showed Kim out of the way and positioned Rose back to her place, before she went off to grab broomstick from the corner and hopped up on a chair.

Everybody was looking at her confused and started contemplating if she went crazy or something, but as the bluenette's annoyed frown was replaced with an oh-so-Chat-like Cheshire grin rivaling the original, everybody's mouth fell open.

Marinette hopped down from the chair with a thud and placed the broomstick on her shoulders, resting her wrists on it loosely as it was Chat's staff, so casually and utmost cool it sent shivers down on their spines. She walked up to Rose with cat-like grace, swinging her hips delicately and with an expression on her face anybody would say she was trying to devour the petite girl using only her eyes.

The bluenette reached the blonde girl and as she stepped beside her, she twirled around the makeshift staff before she brought it down to the floor and leaned on it with one elbow. ''Hello, milady." She took Rose's hand in hers, brought it up to her lips and placed a ghost of a kiss to her knuckles, while murmured to her in a low, very seductive voice. ''I am paw-sitively happy to see you again."

Everybody's chin hit the floor.

Adrien thought if his act was anywhere close to Marinette's performance, he would have easily swept half of Paris off their feet already. How could this be so seductive from Marinette and so inefficient from him?

Rose giggled awkwardly, a blush covering her face, before she spoke up. ''Um, thanks Chat. I'm happy to see you too."

''No!" The model ran up to Rose immediately and replaced her hand with his in Marinette's hold. He wasn't about to let the bluenette's more than perfect act go to waste. ''She would never accept such an advance like that. Look, it would go like this." He gently pushed Rose aside and stepped closer to Marinette. He rolled his eyes and snapped his hand out of the girl's. A confident, won't-take-any-nonsense look set on his face.

''Less flirting more working, Chat."

''But my Lady!" Marinette fake-whined. ''What could a cat do if an a-mew-zing girl like you is in front of him? You are the cat's meow, I couldn't paw-sibly stay away."

''Tell me Chat, you flirt with everything that moves or only with the female population?"

The bluenette gasped dramatically and clutched her chest as she was in pain. ''My Lady, you wound me! This lowly cat only has eyes for you!"

''As if." Adrien rolled his eyes again. ''Come on, Chat. We have an akuma to take care of." He said and started to walk away.

''Your wish is my command Bugaboo~" Marinette said on a sing-song voice while she followed Adrien.

The boy groaned. ''And please, stop with those ridiculous nicknames of yours."

''But how should I profess my love if I don't use cute nicknames?" She asked with fake-bewilderment.

''I'm sure you would find a way." He gave him a smug smirk.

''CUT!" Nino's shout snapped them out of their conversation and they stopped, suddenly very aware all of the eyes locked on them.

''Nino, it's still not a movie!" Alya yelled incredulously.

''I don't care. This. Was. Fantastic! How the hell did you pull it off like… like this!" The Dj was completely in awe. ''I think we found or Chat Noir and Ladybug!"

The pair's eyes widened. ''What?"

''This was amazing. It was like I was watching Ladybug and Chat Noir but in reverse roles." Alix contemplated as she scratched her chin with a smile.

''According to my calculations the probability of winning the grand prize would rise by 567% if we use their pairing as our leads." Max said as he was calculating on his tablet.

''It's decided then." Nino nodded satisfied.

''Wait a minute, what about the audition?" Marinette asked in panic. She couldn't believe what was happening.

''Okay guys, who want to have this pairing as out main characters?" The Dj asked and everybody's hand shot up into the air, even Chloe voted for them.

''Bu-but I'm a guy, I can't possibly play Ladybug!" Stuttered out Adrien, still somewhat under the shock.

''Bro, you'll easily pass as a girl, seeing how skinny you are." Kim patted his back encouragingly.

''Thanks." Adrien grunted out.

''And Ladybug isn't that well-developed in certain areas, so the boobs wouldn't look really fake on you!" The jock said pointing at his chest.

Marinette let out a horrified gasp while covering her breasts.

''But what will we do with Mari?" Rose asked uncertainly. ''Even if we can dress up Adrien as a girl, Mari still won't pass as a guy. She is simply too petite." The pink girl frowned.

''Gender bender AU!" Shouted Alya in bubbling excitement.

''A what?" All of them asked bewildered at the same time. Except Adrien, who knew all-too-well what it was.

''A girl Chat Noir and a male Ladybug! It's perfect! It will get so much attention!" The reporter cheered and was over the moon.

''Wait! But then Marinette get to kiss Adrien! I want the role!" Chloe whined.

''You can't possibly play Chat Noir and if you want to be Ladybug you have to kiss Mari~" Alya said in a sing-song voice.

Chloe backed off. ''O-okay, I am fine as things are now." She said but a faint rosy hue colored her cheeks as she thought about a flirtatious Chat Mari looking at her with those seductive eyes.

''B-but we… but you…" Marinette tried to say something but failed forming a coherent sentence upon meeting her classmates' eyes and seeing it was too late. The hype was already out of hand.

''We'll win this! We'll surely win this contest!" Alya yelled and almost everybody joined her, cheering upon their certain victory.

''Gender bender for the win! Female Chat is now a thing!"

Adrien and Marinette slowly turned and looked at each other with shocked expressions, before the latter whispered out two short words.

''Holy shit."

While the former muttered under his breath. ''It's not even gender bender. It's kwami swap."


	3. Sunday: The visit

**Thank you for all of your support and reviews so far. It always warms the author's heart and makes writing easier. ^_^**

Marinette groaned as she turned from one side to the other. She was tired. Sooo tired. Restlessly moving around all night instead of sleeping wasn't helping her.

After yesterday's more than catastrophic casting she hadn't been useful at all. If the fact that she would need to play her own partner in front of everyone – and avoid rising any suspicion about her real superhero alter ego – the thought that she was going to kiss Adrien rendered her brain into a mushing mess.

At first it had been in her favor. They hadn't been able to work efficiently with her like that, she couldn't pull off the Chat-act again and only stuttered incoherently. She almost had gotten out of trouble, they had all sighed in a dejected defeat and had considered letting her off the hook, but of course, her supposedly intact Ladybug luck betrayed her once again. Adrien had came to her and had asked with those sad, beautiful, emerald orbs if she really didn't want to play the role with him as her partner.

She stuttered out an ''O-of course, it's not the c-case, I w-would l-l-love to be your partner! Let's do o-our best!" and everybody had nodded in satisfaction, but still, they had decided to let her have some time to cope with the entire 'oh-my-gosh-Adrien-and-I-will-play-together-and-kiss' thing, so they had moved the practice to Monday.

Marinette didn't really know how she had gotten home after that, still in somewhat shock, and the next hours had went as a blur as well. She had tried to work on her dress or the akuma costume, but half way through the latter one she had remembered it wasn't her job anymore, and she hadn't had enough concentration to work on a delicate dress like the former one.

Then she had went to night patrol, but both her and Chat had been so distracted and deconcentrated that they had to eventually give up and go home for the night. She could have slept for once, she had gotten home before midnight, but she simply couldn't. She had turned left, she had turned right, never finding a comfortable position, her mind reeling on the events of the day and not giving her any rest. So in the end she didn't get any rest at all.

She was at least lucky today was Sunday with no school and no school play practice to attend. She still had time before Monday. It could be perfect if she didn't have homework, but she, of course couldn't be that lucky.

She glanced below where her school bag was laying on the floor left behind. She grumbled. She couldn't sleep, but didn't want to do homework either. So she did the only logical thing: procrastination.

She rolled over and buried herself beneath her blanket, trying to get just a little more sleep. But after a few more minutes like this made her restlessness unbearable for her, so she finally got up and made her way to her bag, retrieving the books and notes she needed.

''Which one I should do first? Math, literature? Definitely not physic, it would only drive me nuts." She was contemplating out loud, asking no one in particular, as her kwami was still sleeping soundly on her makeshift bed. Marinette glanced at the little creature with a small smile. ''You are lucky, Tikki. You have no guy-problems to worry about."

She tried to have some homework done, but her nerves and raging thoughts didn't give her any rest yet again and with a sigh she set aside a half done literature quiz.

''Marinette, are you up? Did you forget you promised to help out in the bakery after breakfast?" Her maman's voice rang through the trapdoor and she answered to her right away.

''I didn't, Maman. Coming!"

The bluenette went down to have the said breakfast, but barely ate anything before she made her way to the bakery's kitchen, helping with some cake decoration.

It was exactly at 10:00 sharp when her phone started to vibrate and she gave an apologetic smile to her mother before taking out the device and picking it up, knowing well it could be only Alya.

Expect it wasn't Alya.

''Hello? I told you yesterday Alya that I will be busy before noon, so why are you calling me now? I hope it's important." Marinette said on a calm but tired voice as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

''Uhm… I am not Alya." The male voice from the other side said hesitantly.

''What?" The bluenette's eyes widened sightly before she removed the phone from her ear to look at the caller's id, almost making a backflip when she saw Adrien's name with a cute pic glowing on the screen. They had 'exchanged' numbers – as he was unaware she already had his for a long time now – yesterday after the audition to make it easier to keep in touch. ''So-sorry Adrien! I thought you were Alya!"

''I figured…" The boy said uncertainly and she could almost see as he rubbed the back of his neck in that nervous manner she found so endearing. ''So… are you busy right now?"

''W-well, I have to help o-out in the bakery in the morning…" She trailed off at the end.

''And the afternoon?" He asked hopefully.

''W-why do you ask?" She still stuttered a little, but she felt her confidence grow a little with each sentence.

''I thought… you know… if you were free…" Adrien obviously had trouble saying out loud what he wanted. ''I thought we could meet up and work on out characters… you know… to give the best we can in the play…"

''Just the two of us?" The world stopped for a moment. Was this really happening?

''Yes, in my house, if it's fine with you." He answered with a little smile in his voice.

Marinette's eyes lit up, but her inner freak out interrupted her little joy a moment later. Meeting up with Adrien? Just the two of them? Without Alya and Nino? This was too soon!

''I… I am sorry, Adrien. I still have so much work to do with our costumes and I have to make a dress for the ball as well, not to mention I still have tons of unfinished homework from this week, so…" She said, her frown deeper with every word. She wasn't lying, she really should finish her homework and all the other stuff, she was so far behind schedule she didn't even know how would she get any sleep till the next weekend at all.

''Oh, I-I understand. Sorry I bothered you." He responded with all the dejected kitty sadness he possessed.

The bluenette's heart sunk immediately, guilt entering her mind. ''No, no, Adrien! It's okay, you didn't bother me at all! If I didn't have to help out in the bakery-'' But she never could finish her sentence as a hand grabbed out the phone from her hand.

''Hello Adrien, it's Sabine. If you want to have our Mari over, you can. There aren't too much costumers today so we can manage fine without her." Her mother chirped to the phone happily while flashing a triumphant knowing smile to her.

''But what about homework? She said she is really busy with-'' Adrien started, but was cut off by Sabine.

''I am sure you two can work on that homework together while working on your roles as well." The woman said with a smile, but it morphed into a mischievous smirk the moment she glanced at her daughter.

''Is that fine with Marinette?"

''Of course, it's fine with her. She would love to spend time with you!" She answered, the happy demeanor never leaving her.

''Are you sure?" He asked again a little hesitant.

''I'm 100% sure."The woman grinned. ''I'll send her over right after lunch."

''Thank you, Mme Cheng!" Adrien cheered happily then hung up.

''Maman, why did you…" Marinette started, still in shock. What had her mother done?!

Sabine handed the phone back to her daughter who was looking at her wide-eyed. ''No need to thank me, Sweetheart. It'll be best if we have an early lunch so you can finally eat something before you go over. I would have sent you to him right away if I am not be worried about you, passing out from low blood sugar at Adrien's place. Come to think of it, maybe I should have. You passing out in his arms then he taking care of you…"

''Maman!" Marinette cried out in horror.

''Using your friend's, Rose's words, it would be so romantic!" Her mother even made little happy squeal.

''Maman!" The bluenette cried out a little louder this time, and Sabine decided to spare her poor daughter. At least for now.

''Go up and start to prepare lunch, I will help your father back here." The woman said with a smile, but Marinette just kept staring at her. ''Go, go, go! You don't want to be late from your date, right?" She ushered the girl towards the back door and with a push she eventually sent her up. She chuckled a little to herself then went back to work, after all, costumers didn't serve themselves.

~~~oOo~~~

Of course, Marinette had no appetite at lunch at all, given the pressing circumstances like the thought of Adrien and her. Being together. In his room. Alone. With no one else around.

Okay, maybe not completely alone, as she had Tikki with her, but she couldn't really be there to support her like Alya would. She couldn't even make her presence known, so there was no way she could save the girl from awkward conversations and situations that were bond to happen known her crappy luck. Really, what was with this ladybug luck? It should be working for her even in her civilian form, but guess what? It did not. Ever.

By noon she was standing outside the enormous iron gate of the Agreste mansion, more nerve-wrecked than ever, biting on one of her books. After 5 minutes of freaking out she finally pressed the calling button and the familiar robot eye appeared.

''How can I help you?" Asked the woman from the other side.

''I-I am here to work on t-the school play and some homework with Adrien." Marinette was glad she only stuttered a little. In her state of mind she was lucky she could get out coherent sentences.

After a few seconds the woman answered in a neutral tone. ''Yes, he mentioned it a few hours ago. You got here a little earlier than I expected, but please, come inside."

The bluenette walked inside while sneaking a glance down to Tikki, who gave her an encouraging smile and something like a thumbs-up. Without thumbs. Because she didn't have thumbs. Anyway, as she stepped inside the foyer she got even more nervous if it was even possible. The woman, now she knew was Nathalie walked up the her and greeted her curtly with a nod. ''Please come with me. I'll lead you to Adrien's room."

Marinette followed her up on the stairs, not daring to look anywhere else than the woman's back. When they stopped in front of a familiar door – she already was here as Ladybug and there was no way she would forget anything related to her crush – her breath caught in her throat.

''Adrien is inside." The woman said keeping a stoic face, but when she saw the girl didn't move at all, she opened the door for her and gently but firmly pushed her inside, then left.

The girl walked inside, step by step, as slow as possible, delaying the inevitable. She couldn't see much as the huge ramps on each were blocking the way, but she could certainly hear some… music coming from the room.

''A-A-Adrien, I-I am h-here to-'' Marinette stuttered out looking everywhere but him, but when her eyes finally fell on the boy, the words died on her lips.

''MOON TIARAAA!" Adrien shouted out, throwing something across the room what collided with the wall beside Marinette without causing any damage. Her eyes never leaving the boy.

Adrien triumphantly whirled around after the perfect throw to see if he finally managed to hit his target on the wall, only to meet face to face with a completely speechless, flabbergasted Marinette. He let out a very girly high pitched scream while trying and failing to cover the perfectly fitted, costume-made Sailor Moon uniform on him.

Somewhere in the house a woman smiled to herself.

''Ma-Marinette! I didn't expect you-! I mean I didn't expect you this soon! I thought we agreed to meet after lunch and I didn't even have lunch yet-'' He rambled then stopped abruptly as realization dawned on him. ''Oh my gosh! We have lunch at different times! I didn't think about that possibility!"

''That's…that's a Sailor Moon outfit?" The bluenette asked hesitantly pointing at him, he covering under her gaze.

''I-I-I know it's really freaking-out-level weird, and I won't blame you, if you want to leave now and never speak to me ever again-'' The boy continued to ramble with poorly concealed and growing desperation.

''Adrien." Marinette cut him off in a firm tone but when he stopped talking, she immediately smiled and went back to a friendlier one. ''Why would I want to leave? And of course I'll still talk to you after this. We are friends, remember?"

''But… but I am such a nerd. Everybody would be ashamed to be friends with me if they find out." The blond said looking down in shame, then snapping his head up when a thought came to his mind, and he was looking at her with those dejected kitty eyes. ''Please don't tell anyone!"

He was practically begging to her and it broke her heart. What did he thing about her, about his friends? Like any of them would leave him because of such a thing. Not even Chloe would be that low.

''Adrien, nobody would leave you. Nobody will leave you when you'll finally tell them. There is nothing to be ashamed of, everybody has hobbies, activities or even kinks and obsessions they are not proud of, but nothing is wrong with them.'' She snorted. ''Believe me I have way worse things than some Sailor Moon outfit."

His eyes lit up. ''Really?"

''Really. I actually watched Sailor Moon a few years ago-'' Okay, maybe when she was like 8 or something. ''-and I liked it. I don't have any cosplay though." She flashed him a sweet reassuring smile and fought down a blush that tried to creep its way up to her face seeing those beautiful emerald eyes gleaming with hope. ''But why were you watching Sailor Moon while wearing a full costume?"

''Oh, I wanted to get into character more."

Marinette raised an eyebrow. ''With watching and playing Sailor Moon?"

''You know it's hard to get in role right away, and copying Ladybug was a lot harder than I expected. Not to mention there is little to nothing footage to help me out." He explained with wild arm gestures.

''What about the Ladyblog? Alya filmed some decent videos from almost every fight." The bluenette asked as she made her way towards Adrien.

''You can see what happened during the fight in them, but she obviously couldn't get really close before an akuma was purified and Ladybug's throwing technique is something hard to learn." He glanced at a metal tray full of shards. He probably broke a glass while practicing. Or two. But three at max. She chuckled inside but successfully hided it from him. She didn't need to make him feel any worse.

''So you thought Sailor Moon is the perfect level for beginners?" Marinette really had a hard time keeping her giggles inside.

''I… kind of assumed it. But it wasn't easy at all, but I finally got the Moon Tiara throwing right!" He grinned so proud of his achievement that the girl couldn't help it any longer and a snort escaped.

'He's such a dork.' She thought to herself while muffling her laughter with her hand.

''You are laughing at me!" Adrien pointed an accusing finger at her.

''No…*snort*…I'm not…" She tried and failed miserably to lie. If she removed her hand from her mouth it was game over.

''Yes, you do!" The blond narrowed his eyes at her and brought his finger closer to her.

''N-No… *snort*… I don't… *snort*…" Tears flooded her vision and she knew she was at her limits.

''Then remove your hand!" He demanded poking the hand in question.

She only shook her head, refusing it.

''Remove, or I won't believe you!"

Slowly she moved her hand from her mouth, taking relaxing breaths to calm herself. It worked. Till she looked up to meet his pouting face. And in that exact moment she lost it.

''HAHahaHAhahHAhaha!" She was clutching at her stomach, laughing her head off with tears of mirth rolling down her face. ''You go... *snort*… you got a stupid…*snort*…idea… and instead…*snort*…instead of thinking it over again…*snort*…you actually went with it!"

''…it wasn't stupid. I got better." He sat down, crossed his arms in front of his chest and was sulking. He refused to look in her direction.

The girl continued to laugh for a minute or so, before her laughter subsided to a few giggles. ''You are such a dork, Adrien."

''…'' He still wasn't looking at her.

''Awww, are you sulking now?" She asked in a sweet voice sitting down beside him. He scouted away from her, still not answering. ''I am sorry, Adrien." She tried to reach out to him, but he avoided her touch.

''No, you are not. You still find this very funny." He pouted and turned completely away from her.

''Okay, I won't lie. I still find your 'logic' pretty funny. And pretty cute and adorable as well." She said with a smile, and he was really glad she couldn't see his face at the moment, because he was pretty sure his cheeks turned deep red upon hearing her words. ''But believe me if I say, I wasn't laughing at your outfit or your enthusiasm. I would never do that, and I wasn't lying when I said you shouldn't feel ashamed of such a thing."

Adrien slowly turned his head and looked at her from the corner of his eye. ''You really wouldn't laugh at me for that?"

''No, I wouldn't. And I want to make it up to you. So name your prize, I want your forgiveness." Marinette flashed a toothy grin at him and he was taken aback a little. She wanted his forgiveness? For why? He wasn't angry at her or anything. Maybe a little hurt and definitely a little annoyed, but it wasn't anything he should forgive for.

But on the other hand, he couldn't leave such an opportunity wasted. Slowly a grin stretched across his face, a pretty mischievous one if you asked Marinette. ''Okay, I will forgive you. In one condition."

The bluenette had a bad feeling about it. ''And that is…?"

''You have to cosplay with me today!" His grin widened if that was even possible.

''What?" She looked at him shocked.

''Every Sailor Moon needs her Tuxedo Mask after all!" Adrien stated pointing at her.

''But I don't have a Tuxedo Mask cosplay." Marinette waved her arms in front of her defensively.

''Then you are lucky, because I have and I think it will fit you just fine." He winked at her.

''But…!"

''I thought you liked Sailor Moon and you said you don't find it embarrassing to wear cosplay at all."

''I didn't exactly said that…" She averted her gaze as she trailed off. She knew there was no way out of this.

''And you said you want my forgiveness~" He added in a sing-song tone with an almost evil grin. He knew as well she had no way out of this. The bastard!

Marinette thought for the first time that her cute and adorable sunshine boy wasn't that innocent at all, if the face he was giving her was any indication. ''I…" She looked up at him at loss and couldn't find any reason to say no, so she eventually gave up and let out a groan. ''Fine!"

Adrien's face immediately lit up and he ran to his walk-in wardrobe to search for the costume. After rummaging there for a minute or so, he returned with the clothes folded neatly in his arms, the hat and other accessories sat on top of them. He flashed her a thousand-watt smile when he handed them to her. She spared a glare to him before she made her way to the bathroom. When the door closed behind her, Tikki flew out.

''Wow, Marinette! You didn't stutter with Adrien at all!" She cheered while dancing happily around her chosen.

The girl's annoyed frown was replaced with a smile as she cupped her kwami with her hands. ''Well… it's hard to find someone intimidating when he wears a perfect Sailor Moon outfit."

Tikki grinned mischievously. ''Maybe you should use this tactic with others as well."

''Maybe…" The girl pictured her father – even if he wasn't intimidating in her eyes at all – and let out a heartful laugh. Next she went for a harder one and dressed up M Damocles in the uniform, then the mayor, Jagged Stone and Mme Mendelejev. She was in tears now, leaning on the wall for support. ''Oh my gosh, Tikki!" Then she pictured M Agreste and her laughter died out, a cold shiver running down her spine. ''Well… Gabriel Agreste still has his creepy superior vibe even with schoolgirl skirt and tiara."

''I won't argue with that." Kwami and chosen nodded in unison.

Marinette looked at the items in her hand as she placed the hat on the sink. ''Oh my god, Tikki. It even has a fake rose with it." She inspected the rose bringing it closer to her face. ''It looks like the real one." Then she sniffed at it and her eyes widened. ''It even smells like one!"

''So will you put it on?" The kwami peered up at her from her spot on the sink.

''Of course!" The bluenette grinned. ''And I will rock it!"

~~~oOo~~~

After approximately 7 minutes – not like Adrien was counting or anything – Marinette stepped out from the bathroom, striking a pose at him before she threw her rose into the boy's hands. ''I'm Tuxedo Mask. Sailor Moon, look into your heart and find the love within you. It is our destiny." She said in a charming voice, bowing to him with her hat placed in front of her heart.

Adrien gaped at her before blushing furiously. ''T-that's n-n-not even t-the correct line!" He stuttered out while pointing an accusing finger at her.

''Sorry, I thought the original line wouldn't fit to our situation so I changed it a little." She smiled at him apologetically as she rubbed the back of her head with her free hand. ''Now what's next? Will we start doing homework?"

''Pffffff. Marinette. Oh, Mari." The blond snorted and laughed out loudly before turning back to the girl. ''Doing homework when we are perfectly dressed up to watch some classic Sailor Moon superheroism?" He shook his head in disapproval. ''You still have so much to learn."

Marinette sighed. ''Adrien, we have tons of homework, I have even more… and we still have to figure out how to play our roles as Ladybug and Chat Noir."

''Please, Mari. Just one episode! It would be a waste otherwise. We still have all the time after that to do some homework. Not to mention this will be a good way to figure out how to play our parts." The boy grinned at her. She responded with an unimpressed look. Adrien's entire feature turned to pleading. ''Please. Mari! Just ooone episoooode!"

The girl was at loss looking at him while he was begging her, dressed up as Sailor Moon. She didn't know why, she couldn't find it in herself to say no – maybe the spirit of Tuxedo Mask already invaded her, and he couldn't say no to his beloved princess – and with a groan she gave in to the boy. ''Fine! But just one episode, no more!"

''Got it! Only one episode. Or two…" He grinned mischievously.

''Adrien!" She gave him a pointed look, but he ignored her and started the episode.

~~~oOo~~~

Two and a half an hour later, halfway though an episode – after knocking for the third time without any success – Nathalie walked into the room.

''Adrien, you missed lunch, so you really should eat som-''

''MIRACULOUS LADYBUG ESCALATIOOOON!" Adrien shouted out from the top of his lungs, throwing some magical-wand-thing into the air.

Marinette twirled the fake rose in her hand before throwing it right into the middle of the dartboard with an equally loud ''CATACLYSM!"

The woman eyed the two weirdly dressed teenagers, darted her eyes around, confirming they didn't catch sight of her yet, and slowly backed out of the room, closing the door with a soft click as she disappeared back to the hallway.

~~~oOo~~~

''Okay, Adrien. I think we watched more than enough Sailor Moon for now. We should really get to start homework." The bluenette stated as she stood up and made her way to her long discarded bag.

''But you have to agree, it was a pretty good practice." He grinned at her proudly.

''I can't deny that. Given how cheesy and over the top Tuxedo Mask can be, he is a good Chat Noir practice material. Seriously, some cat puns, more flirting and they could be siblings." Mari gasped in realization. ''With cat ears even twins!"

''Chat Noir isn't that bad!" Adrien said defensively.

''I never said that. Now come, we should have to start with homework." The girl pulled out some work sheets and waved them in the air.

''Wait, Mari. We should eat something before doing that." The blond offered with an innocent smile.

Marinette narrowed her eyes. ''You just want to delay the inevitable and get me watch more anime, don't you?"

''Pfff, NO! Of course not!" He fake-snorted and made a failed attempt to cover up just how much she hit on spot. ''Why would I do that?"

The bluenette rolled her eyes. ''I don't buy it, dorky boy. Though, you really should eat something. Now that I think about what you said when I arrived, you missed lunch, didn't you?"

''I am used to skip meals time to time. Let's watch some other anime instead!" He said, rummaging through his collection.

''Nope, you will eat. Now. I won't let you starve yourself when I am here." The girl stepped beside him and grabbed his arm to drag him with her, but he didn't move.

''I don't want to waste time while you are here." The boy frowned at her.

''Eating is not a waste of time!" Marinette gasped, shell-shocked.

''It is, when I could watch anime with you instead." Adrien flashed her toothy grin, the kind he only showed when he was really happy and enjoying himself – something the bluenette barely got to see – so bright and happy, that she had to muster up all her self-restrain to not turn into a puddle of goo.

''…no, y-you should just eat something before we start with homework." She was proud of herself that she could keep a firm tone through most of the sentence.

The boy said nothing just frowned at her, clearly disappointed, before a mischievous gleam appeared in his eyes and his frown turned into a triumphant smirk. ''So you want me to eat? Sorry, but I think my stomach won't be able to accept any food unless my fragile and over-sensitive heart gets some more anime watching first."

''You didn't just…" The girl gaped at him in disbelief.

''My poor tummy didn't get any food for lunch, and I had little to nothing for breakfast as well. Do you have the heart to starve an innocent boy like me?" Adrien peered down at her with the most innocent expression he could manage, fake tears shining in the corners of his eyes.

Marinette was taken aback. Was this really the sunshine child with untainted pure heart and innocent soul everybody deemed him? She almost couldn't believe her eyes, and suddenly an oh-so-familiar back kitty entered her mind. She shook her head, banning every thought of similarity between the two. This wasn't the time, she would think about it later.

Instead she narrowed her eyes dangerously at him. His smirk only grew and that got her to snap. ''You can't guilt-trip me with a hunger strike!"

''Really? I can't?" Adrien leaned closer to her face wiggling his eyebrows.

''Really, you can't." She responded in a stern tone.

''So you will just let me starve while we work on some boring math questions?" He tilted his head in fake innocence.

''Agrh! Who in their right mind would starve themselves anyway?!" The bluenette growled out between her teeth.

''They called nerds. Or in this special case, an otaku." The blond leaned back and explained, that stupid grin still plastered on his face for Marinette's utmost annoyance.

She deadpanned. ''I don't need you informative speech if it isn't related to homework, thanks."

''Oh come on, Mari! We will just watch some Pokemon." For once his face was really innocent as he showed her a sheepish smile.

''And why Pokemon?" She arched a skeptical eyebrow.

''Team Rocket is always changing their appearance to fool Ash."

Marinette wasn't convinced. ''Team Rocket always has the most ridiculous outfits. It's a mystery how Ash and the others don't recognize them even for once from their hair and voices."

''But they have such an impressive entrance!" The blond gestured wildly with his arms.

The girl furrowed her eyebrows, but said nothing.

''Please, Mari!" He put on his pleading face once again and the bluenette grimaced. This was a low-blow to her love-influenced heart.

''Fine!" She raised her arms into the air in frustration and made her way to the couch and sat down while folding her arms in front of her chest in an obviously annoyed manner.

Adrien smirked. ''But Mari, what did you promise me for my forgiveness just a few hours ago?"

She turned to him in surprise. ''What do you mean?"

''You promised me cosplay~" He said in sing-song tone.

''And I am dressed up as a Phantom of the Opera and Prince Charming crossover." She gestured to her outfit without breaking eye-contact with him.

''Ah ah ah, I said 'You have to cosplay with me today' and you agreed to it, and like that when I change into another costume you have to do it as well~" He said, wiggling his index finger like he was explaining something really simple to an infant.

''You damn-'' Marinette started but was cut off immediately by Adrien.

''You would never break your promise, right?" The blond asked in a so-sure-of-himself tone that made Marinette want to murder him right on the spot.

Oh how she hated him in this moment!

''Fine! But only one episode. Now, give me that damn costume!" She growled out in the end and steeled her resolution to not fall into the same mistake as before. She had to stay determined not to give any opportunity to the blond to drag her down to his otaku hell once again. ''Just one episode!"

''Just one episode." He repeated as he brought out the next outfit.

~~~oOo~~~

Three hours and nine cheesy episodes later…

''Prepare for trouble!" Said Adrien, striking a pose.

''And make it double!" Joined Marinette.

''To protect Paris from devastation!"

''To unite all people within our nation!"

''To purify the akumas for truth and love!"

''Te extend our reach to the stars above!"

''Ladybug!"

''Chat Noir!"

''Team Miraculous, blast off at the speed of light!"

''Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

The blond spared a glace up to his kwami, thinking how perfect this could be if Plagg said 'Meowth! That's right!'. The cat god glared back at him with a clear 'Not a chance kid' expression.

Adrien frowned in disappointment, before turning his attention back to Marinette. ''We should use this motto as our entrance in the play!" He cheered happily.

She arched an eyebrow. ''Sorry, but this is cheesy as hell and we go for an authentic play."

''I am sure Ladybug and Chat Noir would do something like that if they had the time in an akuma fight." The boy pouted.

Mari snorted. ''I am sure the latter one would do it, but I doubt Ladybug would be a partner in something like this."

''You are underestimating her cheesiness. She could be funny if she tried." Adrien said, wiggling his waist saucily in his perfect Jessie cosplay.

The bluenette gasped. ''You said this as if she wasn't funny normally!"

''Well, Ladybug is pretty work-oriented." He rubbed the back of his neck. ''She doesn't joke around so much."

''You say this as you know her personally." Marinette said, narrowing her eyes in suspicion. She didn't know what but something didn't feel right and the ladybug-gears in her brain started to move.

He saw that light in her eyes that searched for an answer and he froze. He couldn't let her find out his identity!

''What do you say to watching a different anime next?" He asked, trying to change the subject quickly.

''What?! More anime? Adrien, we have been watching anime for-'' She took out her phone and looked at the time. Her eyes went wide. ''For six freaking hours! And we didn't get any homework done at all!"

''But we still have some time. I have a late night photoshoot, because the photographer wanted natural moon light." He groaned inwardly. ''But I am free till 10, and I know just the perfect anime!" He stepped from on foot to another in giddiness.

''Adrien, we REALLY should start with our homework and I still have plenty of things to do at home…"

The two kwamis were watching them from their spot above on the gallery. The red kwami shaking her head in disapproval, while the black one eating his Camembert.

''But Mariiii!" Adrien whined and he brought out the most powerful weapon of his arsenal. The kitty eyes.

''Adrien nooo!" She scolded him and puffed out her cheeks, determined to resist the temptation.

They had a staring contest with each other, the blond using his pleading eyes slowly breaking the bluenette's resolution.

Tikki sighed again. ''Adrien uses kitty eyes, it's super effective."

''Argh!" Marinette made some inhuman noises when the last of her determination crumbled as well. ''But no more cosplay! And why do you always wear the female costume?!"

''One, because I am fabulous in them, and two, I am practicing to be Ladybug, remember?" He struck a pose once again and wiggled his waist fabulously.

''You'll be a MALE Ladybug, remember? Just admit it you like cross-dressing." She flashed him a mischievous smirk.

''I would never admit such a thing!" He stuck up his nose like he got offended closing his eyes while doing so, but after a few seconds he opened one and smirked.

''Oh, you are such a dork!" Mari shook her head in amusement. ''I gotta change back now. Choose what you want while I am in the bathroom." She said as she made her way to the door, bur before she entered she glanced back at him over her shoulder and narrowed her eyes. ''But only one more episode, and we start doing homework."

''Yes, yes, as you wish." Adrien sent her away with some dismissing hand-waves, but when she was out of sight, he smirked. ''We will see that, Purrincess."


	4. Monday: The news

**Thanks you for all the support and reviews. Seeing your thoughts about a chapter always warms my heart - critics welcomed as well - and motivates me. I hope you will like this chapter as well. ^_^**

Two hours. Two damn hours. This was the exact amount of sleep one Marinette Dupain-Cheng had gotten after an incredibly long night of misery. So now – out of energy more than ever – she, with all the grace of a caterpillar, was crawling her way up to her seat ignoring all the confused or disapproving stares her classmates were giving her. Without her best friend's help or will to school herself into an intact and functioning person, she collapsed onto the bench with a loud thud. She didn't know why Alya was still MIA, didn't even text her or giving any clue as why she wasn't here at all, and to be honest the bluenette didn't give a fuck about it as she was simply too tired. Tired enough that she maybe hadn't even noticed the reporter's absence if it wasn't for Nino's question directed to her. She slowly turned her eyes, scanning the classroom for the brunette, grunting grumpily when she couldn't find her. The DJ figured he wouldn't be able to get any useful answers out of the girl in her current state and after a shrug of his shoulders, he turned back to face the front again.

She was too tired to concentrate. In general. Her mind was a blank page, thoughts hurt and trying to concentrate to anything other than getting through the day seemed impossible. She wanted to sleep so much, that all her remaining creativity floating aimlessly in her tired mind was used to create the solid image of a fluffy pillow out of the crumbled scarf – where she had gotten it, she couldn't remember – she was currently lying her head on, all thought of keeping her dignity long forgotten.

The blond who sat in front of this slumped, pitiful resemblance of a human being, sneaked worried glances at her. He felt himself incredibly guilty. This was all his fault. He was the one who distracted her – clearly on purpose – as he had wanted to spend more fun time with her when he finally had had the chance instead of doing actual work and delayed the inevitable for later. This was more than selfish of him considering the fact he had been actually half done with his homework when she had arrived.

When around 10 a very annoyed and agitated Nathalie had dashed into his room, grabbed both of them, dragged them out and pushed them – not so gently – inside the waiting car, he had known he had screwed up big time, if the horror on Marinette's face had been any indication.

The girl had realized in that exact moment that she had been played and they hadn't done any of their actual work. It had struck the boy that it wasn't her only concern as she had kept muttering about costumes and ball gowns while avoiding looking at him throughout all the way to the bakery. She had exited the car without sparing him a glance, stumbled to the door like a self-proclaimed zombie, who refused life as its whole, and had crashed head-first into the door before he could open his mouth to warn her.

He was tired as well. The photo-shoot had stretched well into the night and it had been his time to patrol as well, so he had to force his tired body to transform and go around the city. When he had came across the bakery he could see the lights still on in Marinette's room, and the guilt had overtaken him once more. He had peered through the window, looking at the girl who had been hunching over a pile of fabric, trying to stitch together parts or something. He obviously was not an expert in designing. Modeling? Yes. But designing was a completely different territory. He was grimacing at the memory. Poor girl. At least she hadn't been forced a good 5 minutes later into a fight with a more than annoying akuma, who kept disappearing, making the work long an miserable for both heroes.

'At least she got some sleep.' Adrien thought to himself in an attempt to chase away some of his guilt, without any real success. If there was a way to make it up to Marinette, he would grab into it, no matter what!

Suddenly the door of the classroom flew open and Mlle Bustier entered with an overexcited Alya in tow. The girl was practically vibrating with excitement. The blond and his best friend looked at each other and they gulped. They couldn't be sure what was this all about, but when it came to Alya, it was better to be prepared. The young journalist was always full of surprises, but these surprises weren't always pleasant ones.

''We just came from the principal and we have exciting news." Started Mlle Bustier cheerfully. ''Alya accompanied me in the meeting as Marinette wasn't here yet. By the way, I am glad you are here in time for once, my dear." She aimed her a playful glare, and only then did the bluenette realize class had started. She half-opened a tired eyes, turning her head up a little and glanced at her teacher then her friend, but after a moment she eventually went back to sleep with quiet huff.

Mlle Bustier didn't give much thought to it, as it wasn't unusual for Marinette to be tired. Her current state was a little concerning, but she hoped a good night sleep would cure her poor, tired student. Her attention fell on her other student – the girl's respective best friend – who was grinning from ear to ear glancing back and fort between her and the class, waiting for her signal to speak. She smiled and took mercy on her, giving her a small nod to continue with the news. The brunette's grin widened. Taking a deep breath, she turned towards the class.

''M Damocles just informed us about all the programs of the week in details, but what's more important he revealed the big prize of the most successful class to us!" Alya cheered and now, almost all the everybody was on the edge of their seat, leaning forward in anticipation. The girl grinned at them, satisfied with their reaction and would have gladly lengthen the dramatic pause further if it's not for her impatience and near-combusting state. So after another deep breath she almost shouted. ''The winner class gets a spa visit and a full free week without homework!"

The class erupted in excited murmurs. Some cheering for a homework free week, some for the spa visit, others became a little worried if they truly had a chance to win this contest, with a prize like this every class was going to give their best. The separated topics entwined and the entire classroom was filled with chaotic chat. Adrien smiled to himself. A free week without homework would be nice. Maybe he would get to spend some time with his friends even if he was pretty sure with an opportunity like this, his father wouldn't hesitate to pack more work and practice into his schedule.

Everyone, even Chloe was excited and held a little hope or more that they could win this, but of course, the doubts and pessimistic thoughts surfaced as well.

''It would be so good to have a week off." Nino sighed dreamily already imagining some well-deserved free time to make new killer mixes.

''Can we really win this? I mean, it would be great and all, but everyone is going for the big prize." Stated Nathaniel.

''Come on, dude! Have some faith in us!" Chimed in Kim as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. ''We can pull this off."

''But Kim, you have to agree we can't treat our victory as a certainty. Us winning the contest, taking in calculation the other classes' potentially well-earning programs, enthusiasm and will to win as well, has a low probability." Added Max while he adjusted his glasses.

''Thanks for the encouraging speech Max." Alix rolled her eyes and poked him in the stomach hard enough to cause him to wince. ''Thanks, really."

''Yeah, Max. You could be a little more optimistic. We still have my dude as Ladybug and Marinette as Chat Noir. They are a killer combo man!" The Dj threw an arm around the blond's shoulders. ''Trust in my bro a little more."

Max grunted before he recalculated on his device. ''Sorry, but even if Mari and Adrien are really good together-'' For this Chloe huffed. '' a play has limited options to earn money. We obviously have the largest income from the tickets and we can sell only a limited amount of them. Also, we have to price them reasonably, depending on how much attention and popularity we get. But as it is a school play we can't count on too much."

''Oh please, with the help of my daddy it's pretty obvious who will win this contest." The blonde girl said confidently as she turned towards her classmates with her usual confidence.

''Sorry Chloe, but any suspicion of cheating causes disqualification and automatically getting the last place." Mlle Bustier said calmly, long used to young girl's antics. This earned another huff of annoyance.

A heated argument broke out as everybody had an option and some input on what to do and how to win.

''Guys! Guys! Chill! We can win this I feel it!" Sounded the journalist unwavered confidence.

''You say that, but what if we don't win? What if we can't?" Ivan voiced his doubts.

''He is right. Is there some penalty for the class that ends up in the last place?" Mylene asked, concerned.

''Well…" Alya started, unsure what to say, because yes, there was a catch.

Alix narrowed her eyes. ''Tell us, Alya." She demanded.

''Yes, tell us. Now!" Kim joined her.

''Please, don't argue." Rose said quietly as Juleka placed a comforting arm around her.

''Yeah dude. Don't yell at my girl." Nino raised his voice as well, standing up during the sentence.

''She is stalling on us, can't you see?" The jock growled out and the argument became more and more heated and chaotic, the whole classroom turning into a loud fighting pit.

In the middle of the fight Adrien just kept abruptly turning his head from one classmate to another as the hurried words flew across the room back and fort until his sensitive ears picked up on a barely audible murmur from behind. At first, he thought he was hallucinating, as nobody else noticed the short, repetitive voice of dread, but as he gave his full attention to the sound and concentrated all his senses on it, he could hear it loud and clear. Suddenly a cold chill ran down his spine.

''…One week worth of sleep…One week worth of sleep…One week worth of sleep…One week worth of sleep…One week worth of sleep… One week worth of sleep… One week worth of sleep… One week worth of sleep… One week worth of sleep… One week worth of sleep… One week worth of sleep… One week worth of sleep… One week worth of sleep…"

Slowly he turned his head to look at the source, cold sweat cowering his forehead, just to come face to face with an other world creature. Her hair hung disheveled around her face, the bright blue eyes he was so used to now stared blankly into nothingness as her delicate pink lips moved to repeat the words over and over and over again.

Adrien shivered. He had no idea what happened to Marinette and didn't know what to do, but he decided he had to do something. So gulping down his frightened soul, he uttered out her name in an uncertain tone. ''M-Marinette..." It didn't seem to have any effect on her as she continued her obscure and compulsive chant. ''Marinette..." He tried again, but still no answer. He slowly reached out a hand towards the girl. ''M-Ma-Marinette…"

As soon as the tip of his finger touched her skin the spell was broken. Or rather, it was completed as the blond could have sworn another entity entered Marinette's body in that exact moment, banishing the kind soul of the shy girl they all adored and loved, giving its place to something much more fierce and powerful. Adrien jumped back as an unworldly glint lit up in her eyes and she shot up and in the next second the shock wave from her fists slamming down on the table shook the entire room.

Nobody was sure what happened but they were silenced either by the crashing sound or the shock wave it sent through the class. Nobody was sure, but nobody dared to utter a word as they all turned to the bluenette waiting in fear and maybe anticipation.

''All of you!" She addressed in such a determined tone another shock went through the class, but not through their bodies but their souls instead. ''Listen now, and listen carefully!"

''Mari-'' Alya started tentatively but was immediately silenced with her best friend's unholy glare. The reporter, for the fist time in years, lost her words on her tongue and gulped.

''We will win this! All of this!'' The bluenette stated with unbreakable confidence.

''But the probability-'' Max tried to say but he was no luckier than Alya as Marinette cut him off as well.

''I don't care about probability. We are the ones who shape our own fate and there is nothing we can't reach with our fiercely pounding heart burning with passion!" She raised her arm into the air than brought it down in a swift motion, pointing straight at Nathaniel. ''You!"

''Uhm…" The redhead's eyes went wide with fright.

''You are the most talented young artist I have ever met! You will make the most amazing decor and banners to advertise our play!" The boy was at completely loss but as he locked eyes with her, as if the burning fighting spirit entered his own body through their gazes, it filled him with determination. He gritted his teeth together and gave a firm nod.

''And you two!" Marinette now was looking at Rose and Juleka. ''You two can make wonderful makeups and special effects, I am counting on you!" The girls exchanged a quick glance then nodded firmly as well. ''And you…" She pointed at Max. ''You literally made yourself an intelligent robot, there is no way you can't come up with a plan!" The boy adjusted his glasses and smiled.

''You, the best athletes in this school!" She looked at Alix and Kim and they proudly straightened themselves, then she went on, addressing all of her classmates ''You, the talented Dj and film maker." Nino smirked bashfully."You, the most dedicated and definitely crazy to the end journalist." Alya grinned from ear to ear.''You, who is a hell-a model and downright the hottest guy in Paris." Adrien turned bright red. ''You, the most reliable teddy bear." A sweet smile tugged at Ivan's lips. ''You, who could overcome her fears and showed us all what it means to be brave." Mylene hid behind her hand shyly. ''You, who could put up with Chloe all this time without complain and always do the work of two." Sabrina was shy at first but a bright grin flooded her face in the next moment. Chloe scoffed. ''And you…" Marinette turned towards the blonde now, her eyes still unwavering and the girl suddenly felt herself intimidated. ''You are the daughter of the mayor, practiced with your words and always up to something. I am sure you can put that ability of yours to use."

Chloe was taken aback by her rival's and archenemy's praise, but it seemed like they were on the same side for now so the blonde steeled herself and agreed with a nod.

Marinette turned back towards the entire class and began. ''Every class president who ever lived chose a vice-president to fight beside them and guard their way."

''Fight?" Mlle Bustier frowned.

''But we are not a normal class. I will not choose one right hand. I choose you all!"

The class cheered. Their teacher glanced around, confused.

''I will ask more of you than any representative has ever asked of their class. Will you follow me throughout the week and help conquer the city of Paris?"

The class cheered again. Mlle Bustier was at loss. ''What the…?"

''Will you defeat our enemies in their own games and tear down their will to fight?"

The woman's eyes widened while the class cheered yet again. ''Tear down?!"

''Will you get us the great prize, the gift fate promised us before all this madness began?"

The entire class erupted in an uncontrollable and ecstatic ovation.

''Are you with me?"

And cheers again. Loud and clear, mixed with hurrays and whistles.

''NOW''

The excitement reached its peak.

''AND ALWAYS?"

At this point Mlle Bustier was pretty sure the entire school could hear their battle cries while somebody started the shout Marinette's name and the others automatically joined in the chant. The teacher buried her head into her palm and sighed. ''Oh my goodness…"

The bluenette smirked to herself triumphantly. ''One week worth of sleep, I am coming."

 **Okay, I know the chance anybody got the GoT reference in Marinette's speech is little to zero as Miraculous Ladybug is a children show - I'm obviously not a kid though so don't be ashamed if you aren't one either - and well... Game of Thrones is not. But the temptation was too great so I went with it nevertheless. I hope it's still enjoyable.**

 **English is obviously not my native language so I make a lots of mistakes. If you find any please tell me and help me improve my writing. O.O**


	5. Monday: The outfit

**Thanks for all the support and reviews. I hope you will enjoy this chapter as well and don't hesitate to give me critique or other comments. ^_^**

At some point new phrases bubbled into the chant, the fist coming from Kim. ''Wipe the floor with them!"

''Defeat them all!" Shouted Max.

''Rip them apart!" Chimed in Alix.

''And burn their remnants!" Cried out Chloe.

''Burn the remnants of their remnants!" Joined Alya.

''Burn the remnants of the remnants of their remnants again and bake it into a cake!" Exclaimed Nino.

''Victory cake!" Mushed Rose loudly.

''Eat the victory cake as a commemoration of their elimination!" Yelled Kim again.

''There should be no one left!" Voiced the young reporter.

''Eliminate them all!" Roared the pink-haired girl.

''Okay, okay, everybody calm down!" Cut them off Mlle Bustier loudly and firmly before this madness could continue. ''We won't eliminate anyone. Be sane and come up with normal – non-violent, no-killing-or-eliminating-others – ideas and plans. Please." The woman sighed out the last part pleadingly and the class seemingly got out of their battle-triggered state as they started to rub their arms and heads clearly ashamed.

''Okay… maybe we went a little overboard." Kim scratched the back of his neck nervously.

''A little?" Their teacher arched quizzical eyebrow and the boy broke under her gaze.

''Okay, maybe more than a little… But Marinette was so persuasive and soul-stirring!" Kim pointed at the bluenette but as he met with her gaze his accusing finger faltered and he gulped.

''It doesn't matter who and why started it, what matters that you, and I mean all of you, keep calm and choose another way, a peaceful…'' She glared mostly at him and Alix. ''…legal…" She pointedly looked at Chloe now. ''…and fair way to win this contest and wipe the floor with all the other classes." Her voice remained sweet to the very end but at the last part her mouth twitched into a devious smirk.

The class blinked at her at first but slowly an identical smirk stretched across their faces catching on their teachers low-key encouragement.

''Hm, but Kim is kind of right." Max said as he made some new calculations. ''Marinette's speech raised the class fighting spirit with nearly 500%."

''Yeah, you're good at this thing, dudette!" Nino gave a thumbs-up to her and grinned. ''Keep up the good work, class rep!"

''Thanks, Nino!" She grinned back at him, her face beaming as she had never been tired. That was when her eyes caught on the blond in front of her, frozen in his seat staring at her. ''Adrien, you alright?" The bluenette asked, concern lacing her tone. The blond just stared back at her, unblinkingly. Seeing his unchanging behavior the girl asked again, more worried than before. ''Adrien?"

Suddenly the boy snapped out of his stupor and blinked at the bluenette in front of him before he averted his gaze, letting out a nervous chuckle and rubbing the back of his head. A soft blush danced on his cheeks. ''Y-You are a f-fierce leader…" He trailed off uncertainly at the end and slowly brought his eyes back to the girl.

She arched a quizzical eyebrow at him. ''…I guess?"

''R-Right! It's no wonder you are class representative and all!" Adrien exclaimed, still trying to save some of his dignity after his unashamed staring at the girl that lasted at least for minutes before he was caught red handed by said girl. He felt like crawling inside a hole and never leaving its safety ever again.

Luckily for the blond, before the awkward conversation could continue any further Alya stepped beside Marinette with a huge grin plastered on her face. ''I am happy you are so determined, Mari. It will make this much easier?"

The bluenette didn't like the mischievous glint in her best friend's eyes. ''Make what easier, Alya?" She asked tentatively.

''Yesterday I came up with a great, no, brilliant idea and went straight to your house to share it with you immediately, but unfortunately…" The brunette dragged out the last part with a knowing smirk and Marinette really didn't like where this was going. ''…you weren't available for some interesting reason. Luckily your mom, hearing my foolproof plan to win the contest, gave me permission to gather all the things I needed from your room."

''Wait, you went through my stuff without MY permission?!" The designer asked completely taken aback.

''I got your mother's permission and you are still underage so all your stuff is technically their stuff. By the way it's not like I haven't seen all the embarrassing things in your room." The aspiring journalist stated nonchalantly making her best friend angrily scoff and mutter curses under her breath. The brunette sighed. ''Oh, come on, Mari. It was an emergency." She said with an apologetic smile, giving her the puppy eyes.

Her friend turned away from her. ''Emergency my ass."

''Well…" Alya leaned closer to her ear and whispered the next line so only she could hear it. ''I didn't want to disturb your precious time with your perfect blonde prince."

''Rather perfect blonde magical girl." Mari chuckled to herself sneaking a glance at the boy in question, still peering up at her with curious green eyes. She immediately snapped back her eyes to Alya, giving her best friend her full attention again while trying to hide the tell-tale pink flush from the boy. ''Okay, so… what's that brilliant idea of yours?" She asked skeptically. The brunette usually came up with tons of ideas, but quantity over quality was deffinitly a strong characteristic of her brain storming-born plans.

''I…got…you…THIS!" On the last word she tugged out a large carton box from under their table and pushed it into Mari's face. It couldn't be too heavy based on how easily the brunette waved it in front of her. Marinette glanced into the box with guarded eyes, clueless as to what to expect from her friend this time and it didn't help when she caught sight of some black fabric.

''Cat ears..?" She asked uncertainly as she pulled out one of them to inspect it from up close.

''Wait, I got Adrien a few things as well!" Alya said excitedly and ran to the other side of their bench to pull out an identical box before making her way to the blond, placing it in front of him.

''Has it anything to do with the message you sent me earlier in the morning?" Adrien asked as he gestured to his black shirt with the ladybug sign on the middle, tight black pants and limited edition ladybug sneakers. They weren't mean to be worn, they were part of his precious ladybug collection! He still didn't know how Alya even got a hold of the information he had any of this stuff.

A text from said girl had woken him in the early hours after that horrible night making him groan, but he still complied with her request either because he was too nice to reject the plea or just too tired to think straight.

''Yes, absolutely." The aspiring journalist beamed at him. ''Marinette designed and hand-made a full set of Chat Noir inspired clothes a few months back and luckily for us she used her own measurements so they should still fit her perfectly. By the way-'' She turned to the bluenette. ''I dropped some extras inside the box that will make the overall appearance even better!" The brunette squealed at her best friend then took her hand in her own and lead her towards the door. ''Juleka, please help Marinette with changing and make up." She motioned to the goth gild and she followed her order, a satisfied smirk flashing on Juleka's face but only for a moment.

''Wait, Alya!" The designer protested. ''Why should I put on that embarrassing outfit in front of everyone?" She whisper-shouted as she freed her hand from the brunette's grip. She was clearly annoyed by the idea but Alya's next words dissolved all of her protest.

''Sleep. One week good night sleep. You can have full night sleeps while designing and playing around with Adrien during the day."

The bluenette was staring at her and she could see her utter embarrassment and the undeniable need of sleep were battling inside her, and while she was pretty sure the latter one would win eventually, she didn't want to waste any more time with this, so she opted the give her one last push.

''Just imagine, you will be able to sleep till noon, have a lunch-breakfast and do anything you want, even go back to sleep for the rest of the day." Alya whispered in her alluring voice no doubt trying to gain control over her sleep-deprived mind. ''One. Whole. Week."

The words slowly sunk in and hypnotized the bluenette's brain, the needy, tired – and more aggressive – side of her finally winning over her nervousness. ''Okay, I'll do it!" Determination once again filled Marinette's eyes and she pushed the brunette aside to exit the room. ''Hurry, Juleka. We have work to do."

But before the bluenette could be out into the hallway the journalist grabbed her for one last time. ''Don't think that you are off the hook. I still want all the juicy details from your day with prince charming. I know you weren't home at least until 10 buddy."

Mari turned red and averted her gaze from her best friend and after muttering a 'there is nothing to talk about' she left to change with Juleka in tow, leaving a grinning and self-satisfied Alya behind.

''I still don't know why I had to come to school in these clothes." Adrien said particularly to no one as he eyed the box.

''Awww, sunshine child. Clueless as always, I see." The brunette cooed, mirth in her tone before she made her way back to the blond, making the entire class snicker – even his so called childhood friend hid a giggle with her hand, the traitor! – and he didn't understand why.

The blond pouted but decided to ignore them and slowly pulled out an oh-so-familiar yo-yo. ''What I am supposed to do with this."

''No, Adrien. You supposed to say that when you get your Lucky Charm. This is just your yo-yo." Alya chuckled while taking the item from him and waving it in front of his face.

He showed her a very unimpressed face. ''Ha ha ha. I am still at loss what I am supposed to do with a yo-yo. It's not like I can swing from building to building with it, right?" His voice was full of sarcasm and annoyance and the girl decided not to push his buttons any further.

''It's for to complete your Ladybug attire. Every Ladybug needs their trusted weapon." Alya grinned at him as she dropped the item into his waiting palm. After he just raised an eyebrow at her, indicating he still didn't get it, the reporter let out an exasperated sigh. ''Just hook it around your waist, will you?"

The blond complied, wrapping the string around midsection and letting the 'weapon' rest on his side. ''Okay, now what about the other stuff?" He asked as he reached inside the box and carefully pulled out a neatly folded red jacket. When he unfolded it and raised it for better view his mouth hung open. ''Wow…"

The jacket was the perfect color of Ladybug with black spots here and there and some black at the bottom, neck and sleeves. They formed triangles at the right parst and as he turned around the hand-made creation he could see that the black upside-down triangle right under the collar on the back even had a little ladybug sign in the middle. The entire inside was pitch black apart from a little ladybug sign under the neckline with Marinette's signature.

''Admire it as much as you want. My god-level talented bestie made this one as well, of course, before you ask." Alya stated proudly as she savored in all the marveling stares her best friend's creation received.

The hell with his limited edition sneakers, this jacket was far more amazing! Somehow he had to convince the bluenette to make him one no matter the money. ''A-Are you sure it's alright with her? Me to wear it?" He asked uncertainly.

''Of course silly, just put it on!" Alya smiled at him and urged him with her hands.

He hesitantly did so and to his utter surprise it fit perfectly. The brunette saw this on his face and had to suppress a giggle. Of course it fit perfectly, Marinette made this jacket with Adrien's measurements in mind. The lovesick girl wanted to gift him this particular one knowing how much a ladybug fan he was, but – as usually – never had the guts to give it to him. Alya had not enough limbs to count on fingers how many times she had to hear her best friend freak out just over this single jacket. This was the perfect opportunity to get rid of this source of annoyance and help her bestie at the same time. It was a win-win situation and killing three birds with one stone to top it all. A happy Adrien, a happy Marinette and a happy Alya, she grinned upon her brilliance.

''Are you sure it's okay with Marinette? I didn't want to-'' The blond started as he adjusted the jacket on him but was cut off almost immediately by Alya.

''Relax, sunshine. It's okay with her. Believe me." The brunette gave him a reassuring smile before she pulled two red hair-ties out of the box. ''Now, let's put your hair into pigtails!"

''Wait, what?!" Adrien's eyes widened in alarm as he backed into seat. 'Anything but pigtails!' He cried out inside.

''We go for the perfect ladybug outfit so you need pigtails." Alya said with a menacing smile as she neared her pray.

''Nope. I am perfect without that hair-tie…" The boy dodged her attempt to catch him and was practically sitting in Nino's lap now.

''But-'' The brunette started but his boyfriend thought it was time for intervention.

''Alya, give my bro some space!" The Dj waved away his girlfriend's attacking hands and patted his bud on the shoulder reassuringly. ''You can't honestly think his hair is long enough for ladybug pigtails. By the way twintails would look ridiculous on him."

The reporter faltered and pouted as the blond let out a sigh of relief. Of course, Nino was right. He was the voice of reason like usually, but still, she couldn't leave things like this. ''Okay, no two pigtails, but we have to do something with his hair."

''And just one?" The quiet voice sounded from the back of the classroom and everybody turned to find a fidgeting Rose. Alya gestured her to continue. ''I mean… one tiny pigtail would still look good on him and give some ladybug vibe, right?"

They considered the idea for a moment before they turned towards Adrien again, piercing eyes intently inspecting him up and down.

''I have to agree. Adrikins would look good with one pigtail." Chloe nodded and for once not just Sabrina followed her example.

The model paled. ''You can't be serious."

''You want to win too, right?" Asked Kim while taking a step closer to him.

Adrien tried to shy away, but Nino didn't move. He looked up at his best friend just to find his 'sorry bro I can't help you' face and feel himself like he stepped on a lego or in top 10 anime betrayals. He turned around, searching for an escape. It was one thing to dress up inside the safety of his room or for photo-shoots. Heck he would happily dress up like a girl for cons and Marinette assured him it would be alright – even if he himself doubted – to show this side of him to their classmates.

His classmates seized him while Alya and Rose messed with his golden locks. Every protest was futile.

''It's so cute, Adrien." Cooed Rose as she stepped back so the others could get a better view of him.

''Looks good, Agreste. You shouldn't have been so worried." Chimed in Kim with a smile.

''Yeah, chillax boy." Agreed Alix.

''You don't know what you have done…" He let out a desperate sigh.

''Bro, relax. It's good on you. Even if it rather looks like a man bun than a pigtail." Nino experimentally poked on it. ''A manbun-pigtail. A mantail? No… a-''

''Pigbun!"

The voice caused a wave of terror and cold chill run down his spine. Everybody turned towards the source of the exclamation except Adrien.

No, the problem was not with costumes or girly hair styles. Not even with pigtails.

The problem came with Marinette AND pigtails.

At some point yesterday Adrien had asked Marinette to do his hair too and make him pigtails. The girl had happily complied and tied up his hair within seconds. That had been followed by ten minutes laughing and constant apologizing and an entire afternoon filled with poorly concealed giggles along with more than a whole hour of poking at his 'pigtail' – as he had to wear one for hours after losing a bet. Marinette claimed it looked more like a man bun than a pigtail and for some unknown reason found it really hilarious. Being really ashamed for laughing at him did little help to hide her amusement. She even named it, like some ridiculous hybrid, a pigbun.

Adrien found it less hilarious and more horrifying. He had pouted every time she poked his 'pigbun' and burst into giggles. After every single time, of course, she had immediately started to appologize, and this fluctuation between being a giggling mess and completely ashamed only calmed down after hours. The boy didn't know why this particular hairstyle had this effect on her – maybe because she was always wearing it, who knows – but he vowed not to wear the pigbun ever again.

A vow that didn't even last a day.

He didn't dare to look at her at first, knowing all too well what kind of reaction should he expect. Then he gritted his teeth. Yesterday teasing was enough, he wasn't about to back down a fight. Marinette wouldn't be able to pick on his pigbun or render him speechless anymore! So with this set of mind and firm resolve he turned to face the girl and tell her to leave his hair-baby alone, but as soon as he caught sight of the girl his eyes widened.

''Oh sorry, Adrien. I-I know I promised on my d-dear life to never tease you about your…" Marinette stuttered out in apologetic embarrassment until she reached the word 'pigbun' that forced her to drown her giggles in her hands. ''So-sorry again." She managed to calm herself enough to wave her hands in sorry. ''I won't do it again, I promise. By the way, my jacket looks good on you." After the last statement she turned pink and lowered her head shyly.

Adrien didn't know what to say. Forget it, he knew exactly what he wanted to say but there was no way he would say any of those things out loud that flashed through his mind just now. There was no way in hell. The bluenette slowly walked to their desk and stepped in front of him seemingly waiting for some kind of response. But his voice caught in his throat, words died on his tongue and his mouth felt dry as if all the sand of the Sahara decided to choose it as their new home.

In front of him stood his friend, Marinette. Who didn't look anything like his friend, Marinette at the moment. She wore leather ankle boots with metal rims, just like Chat Noir's but in a feminine version with some additional metal studs. In those skin tight black pants the curves of her thighs and hip showed perfectly. She even had the leather belt-tail hanging lazily behind. Her leather jacket, wild and very Chat Noir, completed with the cuffs and some finger-less black leather gloves, hung perfectly on her. Unzipped it showed the plain black shirt underneath with the simple lime-green phrase 'Oh no, I am hawt'. A cute bell rested on her neck and cat ear clips on top her now wild and free blue-black hair.

The outfit was amazing. She was amazing. But what he found really overwhelming was not the attire, but her eyes. Her big bluebell eyes with the thick black eyeliner popped out even more and they mesmerized him. Were they always this blue, he contemplated before he figured he still didn't give her an answer, so he opened his mouth to say something, but the first thing that found its way outside confirmed his fears that maybe opening his mouth wasn't the best idea.

''Can I take a picture?"

His words couldn't even register in her mind when a flash came from the back of the classroom. Everybody turned to find a tomato-red Nathaniel with his phone in hand, mouth and eyes agape.

Still, nobody said a word until Alya's giddiness reached the flash point and she burst out in cheers. ''Oh my gosh! You are extremely hot like this!"

And her exclamation shook the others out of their stupor as well and started a chain reaction of compliments and excited shouting.

''Damn, girl! It would take an asexual to resist you, because I am hella turned on!" Shouted Alix giving a whistle at the end.

''Is this even legal? Because she is criminally hot!" Kim said as a blush crept to his face.

''I mean, it's not like she is showing any skin or anything." Nino stated calmly. He loved Alya and found her the most amazing girl, but even he had to give credit to Mari. She looked hot.

''Then we are destined to win!" Cheered Kim.

''Or chances definitely keep increasing." Max adjusted his glass with a smirk and a tiny pink blush.

And the compliments kept coming until Chloe stepped closer to run her eyes up and down on Marinette. Everybody waited to hear what kind of spiteful remark the class diva could possibly come up with this time and they were genuinely surprised when the blonde only said. ''Looks like you can be more than decent Dupain-Cheng" Before letting out a huff of approval.

''Flirt, gurl! Please fliiiirt!" Alya was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet. ''Say something Chat Noir worth!"

''Hm…" The bluenette racked her brain for a moment before she gave all her attention to the blonde diva. ''Oh thank you ma purrincess for all the kind words." She stepped closer to Chloe and her eyes widened as Marinette placed a hand under her chin, gently brushing her thumb against the blonde's lips. ''It would be so nice if such a sweet words would leave such a sweet lips more often. It would be a pleasure to savor in your kindness all day." Mari practically purred before she let go of her with one last soft touch and took a step back to enjoy her effect completely. Her mouth stretched into a Cheshire grin upon seeing the furious blush exploding on her victim's face and her mouth opened and closed several times like a fish. She regretted that she hadn't started flirting with Chloe long ago. So much akuma attack could have been prevented…

The entire class dropped their jaws for the umpteenth time that day. Who was this girl and what had she done with shy, stuttering Marinette?

''Wait, did Marinette just subtly insult her without her even noticing?" Mylene whispered to Ivan.

Ivan furrowed his brows for a moment before answering. ''Even if that's the case I won't be the one who point that out to Chloe."

His girlfriend nodded in understanding. ''Me neither."

Alya fake-coughed to get everybody's attention. ''Gurl, this was amazing and all, but I wanted you to flirt with another blond. Specifically with your partner in crime-fighting."

''Oh, that can be solved." The bluenette said with uncharacteristic ease and made her way to the model, but as she stood in front of Adrien her nerves started to creep back to her and her determination faltered. They were staring at each other wordlessly, one having no idea why he was suddenly so nervous around the other even if she was just plain gorgeous, while the other was starting to remember just why she was always so nervous around him in the first place. Mari glanced at her best friend for help and all the resolution flooded back to her when the brunette mouthed 'sleeeeep'. Her lips pulled into a flirtatious smirk once again and she leaned closer. ''What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?"

Adrien gulped. It was a low blow, using his own line against him.

''You alright, Adrien?" She leaned even closer and he could practically feel as his ability to speak packed up its luggage, bid goodbye to him and left him forever to move to Canada.

''Uhm, I-I am f-fine…?"

''Are you sure?" She dragged out the last word as she purred. ''I would gladly help. They say cats have great healing abilities."

''Uhm..ugh…a…abilities?" Even he winced as he forced out the words.

''Yeah. Special abilities. Aren't you… curious?" Her face was only an inch away from his now and he felt as the blood drained from his entire body to supply the eternal blush that decided to be his new skin color.

''I…I…m-me…?"

''Oh my god, Adrien!" Chloe exclaimed loudly in frustration before she strode straight up to him grabbing him by the collar and shaking him violently. ''Who are you? Clumsinette?! You are supposed to switch roles as Chat Noir and Ladybug, not as Adrien and Marinette! The hell with this reverse crush AU, I am not obligated to tolerate it any longer so get it together Agreste and tame her for the sake of my dignity and for the remnants of yours!"

She let go of him then left him with an annoyed huff. The model fell back in his seat, completely taken aback. What was going on with everybody today? Nevertheless he had to collect himself and find a way to counter Marinette. She was an excellent Chat Noir. Well… more than excellent. She didn't just give him a run for his money, if being the leather clad hero of Paris required only sexiness and flirting abilities, no matter how famous model he was, he could consider himself unemployed.

He had to come face to face with the fact yet again how many hidden cards his bluenette classmate could pull out in the most unexpected situations. She was a mystery his mind had long given up to solve but by heart he always wandered back and wanted desperately know more about the enigma one Marinette Dupain-Cheng truly was. Maybe he just needed to give in the temptation for once and let himself get lost in those marvelous blues.

He gulped again.

No, if he gave in just once then he would be lost forever. Marinette was just a friend anyways, right? He had to make his counter attack and he had to do it fast. The longer he waited the more cornered he felt by the lurking she-cat whose hungry eyes bored holes into his face.

Adrien felt himself the cat in the box, caught and trapped.

He gritted his teeth.

But if his opponent was a cat… if the other party was Chat Noir then he knew EXACTLY how he could get the cat's tongue.

He smirked, a determined light entering his eyes.

'Well, every Chat needs their Ladybug.' He thought to himself as his gaze locked with the bluenette's.

''If this cat got my tongue, care to give it back?" Adrien leaned closer to her face as well. ''We have some work to do and I certainly need that tongue of mine for efficiency." He playfully bumped the nose of the gaping girl as he stood up. He walked straight to Alya and was seemingly waiting for some kind of strategic briefing or something. He glanced back at Marinette and flashed her a mocking smile. ''Are you coming, Chatte?"

The girl narrowed her eyes as a playful smirk stretched to her lips. Her partner did definitely step up his game, but she was not about to back down. ''Of course, this cat is your loyal servant."

She strode up to him and casually leaned on his shoulder with an elbow not caring about personal space. Adrien spared her a glance before he carefully grabbed her arm and placed it beside her. ''So what's the plan?"

Alya was watching them with a sense of deja vu before she shook her head to clear it and got to the point. ''The plan is that you two go to the sport festival held by the other class today."

Mari arched an eyebrow. ''But why do we have to parade around in these… '' She motioned to their outfit, an easy smirk dancing on her lips. ''…khm…clothes while doing so?"

''For one, you will need to stay in character so you can improve your acting." The brunette raised one finger.

''Sound reasonable." Nodded Adrien.

''Still not answering my question." Added Marinette.

''For two, as you participate in the sport events you can work on your team dynamic as well." Alya raised a second finger.

''Fair point." Nodded Adrien.

''And the outfits?" Asked Marinette.

''For three, we will advertise our own program using the other class' popularity." Alya raised the third finger with a triumphant grin.

''How clever." Nodded Adrien.

''So we need these costumes to publicize our play?" Marinette asked but started to get annoyed as her best friend kept ignoring her.

''Nope. At least not entirely." The brunette poked her in the stomach playfully signaling she was actually paying attention to her friend. ''Yes, the main reason of the Chat Noir and Ladybug attires is to draw the eyes and get more attention, but it helps to stay in character and with that improving your team work as well. And the more you are relaxed in your characters, the more natural your acting get and the more publicity we will get. Remember, every events are Chat Noir and Ladybug themed now. It's a problem and an opportunity at the same time. You have to be really good to stand out and outshine the others, but we also get the advantage of the fandom. A lots of fans will gather so we will have the special audience we need."

''Wow, Alya. You actually thought this through." The bluenette looked at her with a very pleased smile. ''And I was thinking you just wanted me jumping around in cat ears."

The journalist smirked. ''Well, that wasn't a drawn-back of the plan either."

''I knew it!" Marinette lightly punched Alya in the arm.

''Sorry?" The brunette tried – poorly – to show an apologetic smile.

''Oh you are so not sorry." Her best friend smirked at her. ''But don't worry, I will get you back for this."

''Will you force me into a fox costume or something?" She shot out her tongue.

''At least it will show your cunning personality just fine." Marinette sighed dramatically.

''Oh, you know you love it!" Alya launched herself at her. ''Now, are you ready to get this bunch into motion?"

The bluenette freed herself from her best friend's half-embrace and adopted a determined expression as she turned towards the class. ''Max, how much time do we have left till the sport festival begins?"

The boy checked his watch. ''Approximately two hours fifty-four minutes and eight seconds…seven…six…five…"

''Thank you, Max. Sabrina, what do we have to know about the event?"

Sabrina looked down at her clipboard. ''I already collected all the information you and Adrien need to know about the different type of games and I found the best place to execute our mission as well."

''Excellent, Sabrina. Please organize a precise plan and work out the details with the help of Chloe and Alya. Their experience with public manipulation will surely be an advantage. Nathaniel, you will work with Juleka and Rose on some banners and anything else you have in mind. Max, coordinate the different groups, keep the mission together." Marinette gave out her orders and everybody nodded in understanding.

''Wait, what about us?" Asked Kim confused. ''You didn't give us any task."

''He's right. What's our role?" Alix asked as well.

''Alix, Kim, Ivan, Mylene and Nino, I leave you in the hands of Alya and Chloe. They know what is needed to be done in order to win." Marinette said and turned to the said girls for confirmation.

They nodded. ''Mylene and Ivan, I just have the perfect job for you." The blonde stepped closer to the two. The pair shared a timid look before they gulped. ''You will be our uncovered agents."

''Uncovered…agents?" The girl asked uncertainly.

''Yeah. You spy and collect information for us, but more importantly, you go and focus the attention on us."

''But our attention is already on us." The boy said at complete loss.

''Not your attention!" Chloe groaned. ''The public's attention. You act like a cute couple, blend in, then get other people to focus on our project, on our Ladybug and Chat Noir."

''Okay, I get it now." Ivan raised his hand defensively.

''Finally." The class diva let out an exasperated sigh. ''Working with people… this is too much for me." Sabrina was at her side right away to fan her with her clipboard.

''Kim, Alix," Alya got their undivided attention. ''You will be used as moving advertisements, but there will be also games that require a team."

''But for team games we need more than four people." Kim said skeptically.

''That's right, as Marinette said earlier you are our best athletes. We will need you in every team game. The others will take turns to play based on their current state and availability."

Alix nodded. ''Makes sense."

''And Nino, I feel like you already have a plan." Alya smirked down at her boyfriend who flashed her an identical self-satisfied smirk.

''Actually I have." He leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms behind his head. ''You want a mind-blowing impression and performance? You need music. And I am just the person you need."

''Perfect." The brunette smiled and turned to Marinette.

She nodded and faced the class yet again. ''Anything else you want to add?" Everybody shook their heads. ''You all understand what you need to do?" Everybody nodded. ''Then…" She took a deep breath and shouted raising her arm into the air. ''TO VICTORY!"

''TO VICTORY!" Cried out the class as one.

Mlle Bustier watched as things unfold from the corner of the classroom quietly. She didn't know if she should be proud or scared and she contemplated to warn the other classes to the danger or just leave things to natural selection. Sadly, the latter would not be ethical so she had to make the correct choice.

''Oh, Mlle Bustier." Alya glanced slyly at her. ''I almost forgot, M Damocles added when you already left the principal's office that the winning class' homeroom teacher gets the free week and spa visit as well. All on the school's expense."

Mlle Bustier's eyes widened before a fire ignited in her eyes as well. ''TO VICTORY!"

Alya smirked. ''All obstacles dealt with."

 **So about the pigbun thing. It came from my own experience. There are things I get fascinated by easily and squeak and want to touch them - like gourds and bunnies - and most of my female friends get crazy to touch a freshly cut short hair of a boy, but the real inspiration came from one of my favorite persons who liked to play with my hair and braid it during class then kept poking on it while giggling like a little girl. It was really cute and she is a really quiet person and never did anything like this with anything else just my 'cutely braided hair'. And fluffy cat plushies maybe...**


	6. Monday: The bet

**I'M ALIVE! I know it was ages ago I last posted a chapter to any of my stories, but my last semester at college and the summer after was pretty busy. I wrote my dissertation, got my degree, worked, fell in love - just kidding I'm a forever loner :"D - so I had lots of things on my plate but it was worth it. Every second. Now it's time I finally post something and thank for every precious person who took their time and read one of my stories, commented, gave kudos, etc. I'm really grateful. Whenever a notification popped up that somebody out there still wants to read my story I sat down and continued writing. But as I'm still bad at writing short chapters it took a long time and enormous effort to finish any of chapters I wanted to post. But now, here I am, thankful for your presence in this world and back to business ^_^**

''So… here we are." Marinette said as she looked around the huge stadium. The school was obviously too small to hold an event like the sport festival, but the mayor had no problem with lending the classes the whole city for the week. Even if it wasn't his idea in the first place it served his popularity as well. At first Chloe had been sullen, finding it unnecessary to increase the other classes' chance to win but after the class had come up with the current plan and she had some discussion with Alya, Chloe was more than happy things turned out this way. Using your rival's popularity for your own benefit instead of making them unpopular was a new strategy she was willing to learn with lightning speed.

''Okay class, get into formation according to plan A!" Alya told her classmates and they responded with curt nods as everyone already knew the plan back and forth, then the brunette turned towards Chloe as Alix and Kim stepped closer to them. ''Did the supplies and merchandise arrive yet?"

The blonde who was on the phone constantly glanced at her then gave some instructions to somebody on the other side of the line. ''Two minutes and everything will be here, ready for the fight."

''Okay, so we start with advertising, right?" Alix asked as she put on her skates, she and Kim sparing each other a competitive glance.

''As soon as Nathaniel gets here with the banner and other stuff you and Kim go and get as many people inside as you can. But don't forget, you advertise OUR Ladybug and Chat Noir, you have to make sure people know what they are coming for." Alya's tone was serious but Kim just rolled his eyes.

''It's not like Marinette doesn't draw all the attention to her like some freaking magnet. I don't think you need to be worried."

''That's maybe true for now but in 20 minutes our duo will be up for the games and as much as my girl is damn sexy she's clumsy as hell. If she can get through the event decently we are good but we shouldn't get our hopes up." Alya shook her head and she furrowed her brows in a worried expression.

Alix scratched her chin as she contemplated on this. ''Well… that's true."

''Thank you guys for your trust." Marinette deadpanned at them.

''Oh come on girl, you know we love you." The brunette playfully nudged her arm, but her friend took a step back avoiding her, still sulking.

''You have no faith in me."

Alya rolled her eyes. ''You can have faith in the unknown, your clumsiness is however an irrevocable fact."

''Tsh." The bluenette pouted. ''You have no idea…"

''Okay, Nathaniel's here with the stuff and Juleka and Rose will be ready with the photographer in 5." Chloe announced as she lowered the phone from her ear. ''I go and get him then see what the others are doing. You make sure our heroes are ready."

Alya didn't like to be ordered around but the blonde's words lacked its usual demanding and arrogant undertone so she just showed her a thumbs up before Chloe turned on her heels and marched away towards the entrance.

''Okay girl, come here. We need to talk." The brunette turned towards the others. ''Just the two of us."

Alix and Kim raised their hands in surrender and started bickering almost immediately as they went after Chloe.

''Come on, dude. You need some coaching, too." Nino grabbed Adrien's wrist and pulled the boy with him leaving the girls some privacy. The blond let out a yelp as he was dragged away confused and oblivious as ever.

Alya turned to her best friend giving the bluenette her undivided attention with a knowing smirk. ''So Marinette… how are you?"

''What do you mean?" Marinette asked eyes slightly widening.

Alya arched an eyebrow. ''Marinette, my dear, don't play dumb. It doesn't suit you."

''I-I don't know what you are talking about." She averted her gaze and internally cringed as her voice cracked a little. Shit.

''This may work with the others, oh wait, nope, you suck at lying. You hate liars, so it's not surprising." She shook her head bemusedly.

''Alya, what are you talking about?" Marinette let out a strained laugh slowly backing away from her best friend.

''Girl, I know you better than anyone. Probably better than you know yourself-''

''Wha-''

''So I know you are dying inside and freaking out internally about what you have said to Adrien in front of everyone." A wide grin stretched across Alya's face as the bluenette faltered and the first signs of her internal turmoil started showing on her face. ''Let alone the hardcore flirting that came afterward."

''I…I called him hot! In front of everyone!'' Marinette brought her hands up to her face making a pointless attempt to hide her embarrassment. ''He must hate me now!"

Alya chuckled. This girl… ''Mari, I tell you, he definitely doesn't hate you."

''How could I call him hot?! The flirting is a thing, it was part of the Chatte act, but calling him hot was soooo uncalled for!" The bluenette whined as she sunk into herself even more.

''In fact, you called him 'downright the hottest guy in Paris'." The brunette grinned as her best friend let out an inhuman noise.

''It can't be true!"

''I have it on video, do you want to hear it yourself?" Alya waved her phone in front of her but Marinette jumped away as if it burned her.

''No way! I don't need a recorded reminder of my embarrassment!" The bluenette gestured frantically in front of her with her arms.

''Wait, Nino even made a remix on the way here! It has to be here somewhere!" Alya exclaimed excitedly while she searched through her phone.

''Alya, don't!"

''Youu-you-you-you-youuu, who is a hell, hell-hella hell…model-de-de-del… down-hell… hell-hella-hell the ho-o-o-o-otest guy, ho-o-o-o-otest guuuuy-'' Sounded her altered voice from the phone and the bluenette's face erupted in crimson.

''NOOOOO!" She made a futile attempt to grab the device but her best friend kept it out of reach.

''-ho-o-o-o-otest guuuy-'' The mix continued to flow out from the phone until the brunette took pity on Marinette – who was at this point redder than a tomato and desperately trying to hide her entire face with her arms around her head – and hit pause.

Alya had her fun, now her focus was back on her best friend. She wouldn't push further. If Marinette wasn't ready to see the video then that's it. But she would definitely have to see it on one of these days. Not because of the part in her speech addressing their favorite blond but the reaction she received from him. Of course, unbeknownst to her. Man, Adrien's face had been priceless. Alya was sure she and Nino was going to re-watch the video again and again at their next private outing. What would a romantic date be without laughing at your oblivious best friends, right? They were the definition of dense. Literally, you could find them under the word 'dense' in the dictionary or a little note that their density was in fact too much even for the poor book.

''So are you ready to kick some ass and show them that this cat is here to rule?" The brunette brought an arm around Marinette's shoulders and pushed her in the direction of Juleka. ''You can freak out about Adrien later, now we have to re-apply some of your make up. You need to be purr-fect for the show!"

''Oh please, leave the cat puns out of this." The bluenette groaned towards the sky, her natural pale skin color coming back.

''Show them who is the ace, female feline owns the place!" Alya exclaimed earning another groan from Marinette.

''You spent too much time around Chat Noir. And Nino. It morphed you into some cat-rap monster."

''Another snarky word about my superb skills and I put that video on my blog!" She poked Marinette in the side threateningly.

The bluenette's eyes widened. ''You wouldn't dare-!"

''Try me, girl. You know you would regret it."

Marinette's only answer was an indignant huff and Alya smirked. Knowing her weaknesses was definitely delighting.

~~~oOo~~~

''Nino, were are we going?" Adrien asked as he tried to free his hand from his best friend's grip.

The Dj swung a bunch of papers in his other hand. ''To the registration tables. Alya handed me our application forms. It seems like she, Chloe, Max and Sabrina planed out everything and organized most of the things beforehand."

Adrien was surprised. ''I thought Marinette was in the organizer team as well. Class president and all. And she is really good at these kind of things." He didn't even realize as a found smile stretched on his lips. On the other hand his best friend didn't fail to notice the change in his demeanor.

''I can't argue with that, but as much as it's true, Alya refused to let Marinette into the organization in fear of immediate retribution."

''Why would she do that?" The blond asked utterly confused. Sweet, kind, friendly Marinette and retribution? If you have asked him a few days prior he would have laughed at the mere idea, but in this couple of days he had seen sides of the girl he had never seen before so he couldn't just shove the thought aside. How many secrets did this girl hide from the world? He had absolutely no idea.

''Because Alya's desires and Marinette's peace of mind are like complementary opposites." Nino said without sparing a glance to Adrien as he handed the applications to a smiling woman.

''What do you mean?" But the blond's question was outright ignored by his friend.

''So what do you think about Marinette?" Nino watched the blonde boy from the corner of his eye and witnessed as his face morphed into one of confusion. He would even believed it if it wasn't for the sort lived blush of realization that flashed on Adrien's cheek and was showed away just as fast as it came.

The model bashfully scratched the back of his head. ''What do you mean, Nino? Me and Marinette are friends."

'Oh so you want to play dumb' the Dj concluded in his mind and the look on his face showed that he wasn't about to buy this shit. ''Just friends? Nothing more?"

''Good friends?" Adrien smiled at Nino who was about to combust.

''So all the flirting and that gorgeous look had no effect on you? You are looking at her in the same light?" The Dj's eye twitched.

''She's… pretty?" The blond said hesitantly.

Nino took a deep breath. Okay, they were going somewhere. Finally. ''You mean hella beautiful? Drop-dead gorgeous? Breathtakingly sexy? Mindblowingly attractive? "

''Well… if you put it like that…" The blond trailed off as his best friend arched an eyebrow at him. ''Okay, she's beautiful."

Okay, Nino could already see his victory, he was almost at the finish line. ''And do you want to be her…?"

Adrien's arm froze in place at the back of his neck and he looked at Nino as a deer caught in the headlights.

Okay, just a last push…!

''She's nice. She's kind. She's beautiful, lovely, cute, smart and all the other things, so you want to be her…"

''Oh Nino, we're just friends."

And that was the moment Nino's head smashed into one of the registration tables promptly breaking it in half earning a loud gasp from the lady and two other students sitting beside her. The Dj slowly raised his head to look at the blond who smiled at him that sweet, oblivious, dense and utterly-annoying-at-this-point smile.

''Nino, I didn't know you were practicing karate moves."

And that was when the second table suffered the same fate of the first one.

''Nino, what are you-''

''Don't…! Don't you dare!" The Dj strode up to the blond and leaned into his face with a threatening glare. ''Don't you dare say another oblivious word or the next will be YOUR head."

Adrien gulped and swallowed any questions he may wanted to ask. Not waiting for further confirmation, Nino grabbed his arm again and started to drag him away from the destroyed furniture.

''Now come. We have to be at the main area in 2 minutes to take some pictures of you two."

The blond nodded but it was lost on the fuming Dj.

'This boy…!'

~~~oOo~~~

The public image team, namely Juleka, Rose and Nathaniel, chose the best place to take photos. The duo was facing the sun, the entire sport festival behind them. Juleka was doing the last touches on Marinette's make up when Adrien was pushed beside her. After some more pep talk with Alya she managed to calm down and was back in the game with the same sass and confidence as earlier.

''It's nice seeing you here, hot stuff." The bluenette said as she adopted a cat-like pose, leaning on his shoulder, flashing a confident smile to the camera, not sparing a glance to the flushed blond.

''You two, get in position!" The boy snapped out of his blushing state when a familiar male voice shouted from behind the camera. He recognized the guy immediately as the sculptor who had a crush on his Lady. He wasn't a bad guy, Adrien knew it, but he still had some unwelcomed feeling in his chest for a moment. The guy was talking to his classmates seemingly too far from them to hear a word but his enhanced hearing picked up on the conversation nevertheless.

''Theo, I'm happy you could make it." Rose chirped beside the young man who smiled at the blonde girl.

''Thanks for calling me. I'm not really a photographer but I'll do my best."

''If it's half as good as your Ladybug and Chat Noir statue then we have nothing to worry about." The girl patted his shoulder reassuringly.

Adrien was a little taken aback by the friendly tone the two used with each other and from what he saw Juleka and Alya knew him as well. They worked comfortably around him, but why should he be anxious? Theo wasn't after his Lady anymore. He breathed a sigh of relief.

''But I have to say, you girls come up with the weirdest jobs sometimes. That date scheme earlier and now taking pictures of cross-dressing Ladybug and Chat Noir… By the way it's a shame all that hard work with the date was in vain. I'm determined to make this one a success" Theo told her as he adjusted something on the equipment.

'Date? What date?' Adrien's curiosity got the better of him and he continued to listen in the conversation.

''Don't feel bad about it. We got to have an amazing ride with rose petals and had some of Andre's ice-cream in the end. It turned out to be an amazing day. Even Marinette didn't mind."

'What? Marinette was there as well? What kind of date they are talking about?' He tried to lean closer, even if it barely did anything as a few inch wouldn't help him hear a conversation better that happened meters from him.

''That's good to hear. She was really excited about the entire thing." Theo said as he glanced at Marinette. ''I hope she will get together with the boy of her dreams."

Every fiber of Adrien was focused on the two in that moment. He held back his breath and didn't even dare to blink. Marinette almost had a date with some random guy and he had no idea! But why should he be interested? But how could this be the first time he heard about this?! Well… it's not like he spent so much time with Marinette before the previous Sunday. The best Sunday of his life. But that meant… Marinette liked someone? He had to know!

''I'm sure of it. He just have to-''

''What are you doing, Bugaboy?" The bluenette next to him poked him in the stomach, successfully cutting off his ears-dropping. His head snapped in her direction and he locked eyes with the blue-eyed feral cat.

''I…" He managed to choke out.

''You…?" She asked right back.

''I was just looking at the equipment. It's different from the one we use at photo-shoots." He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.

''Oh… So some camera and flashlights are more interesting than your partner. And here I was thinking my outfit managed to cat-ch your attention." She sighed but then a mischievous glint entered her eyes. She smirked as she slowly brought her hand up to his chin and placed her index finger on his lips." But purr-haps I was wrong." She slowly, really slowly slid her finger down his jawline then down his neck stopping only on his chest above his heart. ''But I'm paw-sitive that some purr-fectly timed chat can help us get… claw-ser." She practically purred the last word in a seductive tone that sent a new kind of chill down Adrien's spine. Her touch – even through the fabric of his shirt – burned his skin and the sensation her finger left on its way down did funny things to his heartrate.

'What is this girl doing to me?' He groaned internally. This wasn't normal. Somehow Marinette managed to exceed every effect Ladybug had ever had on him with only a flick of her finger. Was it because of her shameless flirting? Or that seductive smirk? Or did he have some kind of kink for cat-costumes? Whatever was the reason he had to get a hold on himself. He loved Ladybug, dammit, and Marinette, no matter how gorgeous and attractive and kind and caring and- No, no, no! He had to snap out of it!

The bluenette glanced at photographer for a moment, a thoughtful expression crossing her face before it went back to the confident smirk. ''What's the problem, pigbun?" She grinned up at him as she flicked his bun with her fingers.

Okay, this had the desired effect.

''You promised you won't call me that!" He turned away from her, pouting.

''Well, Marinette promised she won't call Adrien that, but I don't see either of them here now. Do you?" He looked down at her and her eyes were outright challenging.

'She has the nerve…!' He growled internally before his eyes adopted the same challenging gleam as hers had. 'Well purr-incess, game on.'

He leaned down so their faces were only an inch apart and his warm breath fanned her skin. ''Do we have a bad girl here?" Her eyes widened for a second and pink tainted her cheeks. He took satisfaction in her reaction even if it was only short lived as she leaned even closer to him seconds later.

''And do you like bad girls, pretty boy?" She whispered and the hot air leaving her mouth tickled his lips. He gulped but masked his moment of panic with a smirk, feigning confidence.

''You wish, Chatte!" He said as he pushed her away from him with a finger on her nose then removed the yo-yo from his waist and started to spin it around nonchalantly.

''Sometimes wishes come true~" She sing-sang as she turned away from him but leaned right back and linked her arm through his. ''Smile to the camera."

Only then did he notice the familiar clicking sound of a camera and looked up.

''Okay, this was the last one! You did great!" Theo exclaimed while Alya and the others were gushing over the pictures.

''Wha- When did the photo-shoot start?" Adrien looked around, completely dumbfounded.

''What are you talking about, my Lord? For the last few minutes we have been photographed non-stop." Marinette flashed him an amused smile.

'She played me!' The realization struck him and a new kind of fighting spirit had posses him. ''Okay, playing nice is over."

''Do you want it dirty, Bugaboy?" Marinette's smirk stretched even wider.

'She winked at me! She dared to wink at me!' Adrien tried to fight down the swarm of butterflies that erupted in his stomach to leave room for his annoyance.

''Everybody! The paired race starts in 7 minutes!" Alya shouted out getting everybody's attention. ''Sunflower and Coconut, are you in position?" She asked in a radio.

''Sunflower and Teddybear are in position." Answered Mylene through the radio.

''Wait, why is Ivan's code name Teddybear? I thought we agreed on coconut!" The brunette exclaimed.

''Sorry, Alya. I don't really like coconut." Ivan said in a calm voice.

Alya sighed. ''Whatever, just do your job." Then she turned her attention to the image team. ''Rose, Juleka, go advertise our duo with the banner inside the stadium. Kim and Alix are already doing the same outside. Nath, check out the merchandises. Everything have to be perfect." They all nodded and went to do their job. ''Chloe, how much time do you need to print 300 of those pictures?" She pointed at the negatives the blonde just received from Theo.

''Let me have some calls, but within a hour everything should be ready." Chloe stated confidently and flicked back her ponytail.

''Theo, please keep up the good work. We need some good pics of these two." The young man nodded and Alya turned to Nino.

''Nino, how is to music?"

The Dj eyed the modern, mobile dj equipment Max gave him. ''I'm still a little uncertain, but I think I will manage. I have the perfect song just for the race." He grinned and gave fingerguns to Alya.

His girlfriend rolled her eyes with an amused smile then turned towards Max. ''Max, how is our budget?"

''Really, how did you get all this money?" Mlle Bustier spoke up for the first time since they arrived at the stadium. She had been watching with a somewhat terrified awe as her class worked like one soul and body without any trouble. How did they manage with Chloe in the team as well was beyond her. It was something amazing for any normal class, but with Chloe it was close to a miracle. Nevertheless she had to keep an eye on her fervent students. ''I hope it's not against the rules."

The boy adjusted his glasses. ''With the money Chloe lend us we shouldn't worry much."

''Just keep in mind it was a loan not a gift." The blonde diva said just as she ended a call.

''For a rich diva you are pretty cheese-paring." Alya stated crossing her arms in front of her chest.

''Don't blame me. Pigtails wouldn't leave me alone if it wasn't a loan." Chloe huffed.

''That's because the rules forbid to use money aside from our original budget and the money we ear within the duration of the appreciation week, so every class starts from the same ground." Marinette rolled her eyes.

''They wouldn't know." The diva pouted.

''I would." The bluenette narrowed her eyes.

''I have to agree with Marinette on this. We checked and borrowing money is not an issue however if we don't pay back everything by the end of the last event we are automatically disqualified." Mlle Bustier said in a calm voice with a smile, putting a hand on Chloe's shoulder. ''And we wouldn't want that, would we?"

Her intense gaze burned into the blonde's eyes, clearly giving her the message 'Don't mess up my free week'.

Chloe nodded wordlessly before she turned on her heels and started walking in the direction of the entrance, her back to the others to hide her face. ''I'll go and give the negatives to my butler. I'll be back in a few minutes."

Alya suddenly glanced at her watch in horror. ''Max, why didn't you warn me? The race is in 5 minutes! Everybody in position!"

''Alya, everybody is already in position." The boy arched an eyebrow at her.

''No, Marinette and Adrien are-'' The brunette started but was cut off by Max almost immediately.

''-are already walked to the starting line with Nino and Theo while you were watching Mlle Bustier and Chloe. We should get going as well. They are in need of some last minute instructions." Max said as he started to make his way to his classmates.

Alya grabbed the calmly walking boy's arm and dragged him with her as she dashed through the stadium. ''Then what are we waiting for? Go go go!" Then she pulled out her communicator. ''Sunflower, Teddybear, do you see the super duo?"

''Positive, Lily. Super duo is at 11 o'clock." Mylene answered, pulling down her cowboy hat.

''Then mission starts. I repeat, mission starts." Alya breathed out as she continued to run, dragging Max along.

''Copy. Teddybear and Sunflower turn to light Super Duo." The girl said in a hushed tone before ending the call and turning towards her partner. ''Ivan, get the attention on those two."

The large boy nodded while adjusting his disguise. ''Uhm, look! Wow, there are Ladybug and Chat Noir cosplayers!" He tried but no one even spared him a glance. Ivan huffed and with an 'I can do this' tried again. ''Wooow, they're really good over there! Just like the real Ladybug and Chat Noir!" But his attempt failed yet again as the people around them were completely absorbed in their own conversations to care. Ivan faltered but made one last effort. ''LADY-BUG AND CHAT NOIR! GO! GO! GO!" But his enthusiastic shouts only received some annoyed glares. He sighed defeated.

Mylene was watching her boyfriend's misery but the glares were too much for her so with an annoyed huff she decided to take action. She brought her hand to her mouth and let out an ear-shattering whistle, getting everyone's attention around them, then with her best American accent continued. ''Somebody call the fire department 'cause that cat girl is smokin' hot down there!"

Everybody followed her gaze with their eyes and just as luck was really on their side seconds later their duo flashed up on the big screen, perfectly presenting the breath-taking outfits and the breath-taking individuals as well.

Awed gasps were followed by some enthusiastic whistles then excited chatters about the Super duo filled the air. And of course, there were the literal 'catcalling'.

''Wow kitty, you're pretty!"

''That cat costume is really hooot!"

''The lil lady is hot as well~!"

''Wait a minute! Isn't that Adrien Agreste?!"

''Oh my god, it's him! In the ladybug outfit!"

''Well… it seems like we have more than one hot stuff here!"

''They look cute together! Do you think they're dating?"

''I hope not. I wanna ask cat girl for a date."

''Who can she be?"

''I dunno. Let's find out."

''Wait, there is a banner over there! It says… Lordbug and Chatte Noir, the play? They're making a play?"

''Oh, I saw it in the program book! That's the last event of the week."

''Let's check out that too!"

The super duo were gulping down some water, blissfully unaware of all the attention they suddenly received.

Nino checked out his equipment for the last time before the race started when a winded red-head ran up to him.

''Wow, dude. What's the rush?" The Dj asked as he grabbed Nathaniel's shoulders to steady him.

''Huh… I…just wanted… to wish… good luck… to them…" He breathed out between huffs.

''Oh…" A knowing smile stretched over Nino's lips. ''You mean you wanted to wish good luck to Marinette?"

Nathaniel already red cheeks turned into tomato as he scrambled out a reply. ''O-Of course not! I mean it's not just for her!"

''But you had a crush on her, didn't ya?" The Dj asked as he adjusted his red cap.

''That's in the past. Everybody who has eyes know that she's into Adrien." The red-head waved with his hand like it didn't matter anymore. ''But she's really nice so I want to be closer with her."

Nino slid an arm around of Nathaniel's shoulders. ''I feel you bro. Marinette's cool. That's why I had a crush on her before Alya."

''You did?!" The red-head asked with disbelief.

''Uhum. Now…" Nino turned towards his best friend then back to Nath as a devious smirk formed on his lips. ''Why don't you go there and wish good luck to Marinette?"

''I already told you…" Nathaniel started to say but cut himself off as the Dj's plan registered to him. A furious blush exploded on his face. ''Nino, I'm not capable of doing that!"

''Okay, let me rephrase myself." Nino's tone turned into serious. ''How much more obliviousness can you handle?"

Nathaniel only ducked his head.

''Come on!" The Dj turned the other boy towards the duo and give him a little push. ''Just give some attention to her! That should be enough for Monsieur she-is-just-a-friend."

And with that Nathaniel made his way to Marinette. He just didn't know Marinette was long gone…

''Ma-Marinette!" The red-head got her attention and she greeted him with a bright smile.

''Nathaniel! Why are you here? Shouldn't you be with the image team?"

''I… Well… '' He coughed to clear his throat. ''I just wanted to wish you good luck for the race."

''Awww, what a nice boy we have here~!" Chatte sing-sung but then, suddenly a mischievous gleam appeared in her eyes and she smirked. ''Or all this special attention is for something else? Then you're a bad bad boy~!"

A water bottle was crashed nearby.

''N-No, no! Nothing like that!" Nathaniel spluttered out as his entire head turned into a tomato but the girl only laughed at him.

''Relax, pretty tomato prince, I'm just messing with you." Chatte smiled at him while bumping his nose with her finger. ''It's nice of you to wish me good luck. I'm a black cat after all, so I definitely need it."

''O-Okay. Good luck! Bye!" And within second Nathaniel was out of sight.

Nino could barely mask his satisfied smirk as he walked up to his best and not-at-all-jealous bro. ''Wow dude, what have that water bottle done to you?"

''Wha-'' Only now did Adrien notice the remnants of the plastic bottle still clutched in his hand. ''It just exploded."

The Dj gave him an unconvinced 'uhum' before his gaze traveled to Marinette. ''It was so nice of Nathaniel to wish good luck to his friend, right?"

''Yeah, I think so…" Adrien muttered out, his tone free from any happiness.

''Marinette and Nathaniel are sucha good friends. Like you and Marinette. Isn't that wonderful?" Nino pressed on.

''Yeah… It's truly wonderful." Adrien literally spat out the last word with such a disdain Nino could have sworn he bit into the sourest lemon of Earth.

The Dj had some more up to his sleeve but was interrupted by a smirking cat. ''Are you ready, pretty boy?"

''Never have been more ready in my entire life." Adrien smirked confidently his gaze never leaving his partner. ''Are you ready, Chatte?"

''What do you think, Bugaboy?" She smirked back at him.

''Marineeeeette!" A heavily panting Alya ran up to them with an exhausted Max in tow. ''The race is about to start!"

''Relax, Alya, we got this." The cat girl's smirk turned into a reassuring smile – but not before rolling his eyes good naturally - as she patted her best friend on the shoulder. ''Max already explained the path with Sabrina at least a hundred of times. We'll win."

Alya's eyes widened in horror. ''Wait, wait, wait! You don't have to win! You just need to be graceful and cool like the real Ladybug and Chat Noir!"

''But Ladybug and Chat Noir always win!" Marinette stated firmly.

''But the odds that you two will win taking account your clumsiness and inexperience in sport activities… well, it's highly unlike." Max said as he recalculated everything again.

''Don't tell me the odds!" The bluenette's eyes was in fire. ''We. Will. Win."

Adrien slung an arm around her shoulders with unwavering confidence. ''Don't worry. I'll have her back. We'll manage to win somehow."

The implication in his words set Marinette off. She smirked deviously. 'Seems like Bugaboy stepped up his game.'

And that moment Alya realized something: Marinette was hella competitive.

''You think you can do this better, Bugsy?"

''Oh, I wouldn't say that." The blond waved with his hand dismissively seemingly backing out from the confrontation but then his kind demeanor turned devious as well. ''I wouldn't want to hurt your feelings."

''Oh-ho, somebody got a gigantic ego here." She leaned into his personal space, blue eyes locked onto greens. ''Do you think you can prove yourself or all of this confidence will turn out to be a huge balloon stuffed with hot air?"

''Let's see, my dear Chatte." He whispered back, their mouths barely an inch apart.

''Okay, okay, that's enough! You're participating in a paired race so you won't go against each other!" Alya told them and she pushed the two to the starting line.

''What a shame." Sighed Adrien dramatically then turned to his partner, barely fighting back a smirk threatening to show up too soon. ''I guess we have to delay your defeat for a little. Meanwhile please, try no to slow me down too much."

That was the moment something snapped in Marinette, purging her from any remnants of nervousness, only leaving the competitive hellbent monster crawling out from its usual hiding place under the well-concealed mask of innocence and kindness. And that monster was out for a certain blond's blood.

''Let's see who's slowing down who, pretty boy."

In that moment something clicked close to them and they glanced down to see the handcuffs placed around their wrists, locking them together for the race. Looking around proved that every other participant received the same handcuffs as them already meaning that the race was about to start.

''Ladies and Gentlemen!" Started a loud manly voice from the speakers around the stadium getting the attention of all the people inside. ''Here is Alec Cataldi and it's a pleasure to be here with you all for today's sport events. My friend's little daughter, Lucy and her class worked really hard to put this festival together for us, and I have to say, they did a pretty great job. Please give a loud applause for Lucy and her class!" People started clapping diligently. ''Now the first game out of many other events today, the Crazy Crash Paired Race is about to start and with that the sport festival will officially begin! Don't let your eyes leave the field even for a moment, because this obstacle race is a sight to behold! First there is The Ring Worm where the participants need to swing themselves from ring to ring to reach the other side, but if they miss only one of them they will surely end up in the mud below, crawling in the dirt like little worms."

Rose looked down at the cold mud shuddering at some unpleasant camp memories from her childhood. Juleka reassuringly rubbed her arms.

''Then comes a real classic, The Bone Breaking Brickwall and you have to get through it the same way as usually, without any rope, handrail or additional help, however, our little team here added some wax gel to some spots to make it more interesting."

Nath cringed seeing the 4 meters high brick wall towering over the other obstacles.

''After that we turn up the temperature and the mood gets heated with The Fire Cracker Fairway and its 300 degrees. Guaranteed burns if you are not careful, but don't worry, the medical team is ready to attend to your injuries immediately."

''How the hell did they even get permission to do that?!" Exclaimed Nino just as a member of the other class ceremoniously set the stage into fire.

''I have a hunch that somebody from the other class got some connections with the fire department." Alya said, narrowing her eyes.

''Then after some rope climbing, box tunnel and wind machine comes my personal favorite-''

''Let me guess…" The brunette grumbled sarcasm lacing her voice.

''- The Instant Death Jump!"

''…yeah, that one."

''You need to jump from The Chaotic Cliff and catch the zip-line below to zip right into the finish, but you have to be very precise with your aim: one inch in the wrong direction and you can end up in the ice cold water below! So all in all just be spot on!"

Alya and the others' gazes wandered from the starting line through the many obstacles to the finish line, and they involuntarily gulped. That was… a little harder than they expected. Their eyes then turned towards their dynamic duo, their hearts going out in sympathy for them only to meet with an unaffected, still casually flirt-bantering pair.

''You hear that, Bugaboy? Spot on should be easy for you. Or you need some extra luck from moi?" Chatte grinned up at her partner, tugging him closer by the handcuffs.

''As a black cat you should be the one concerned about your luck." Adrien smirked back at her, pushing her gently away with his handcuffed hand. ''Try to keep up, Chatte. I really don't want to be out of sync."

Marinette knew he was challenging her, and she just loved the chill it caused inside her. It was almost as if she were up on the rooftops of Paris with her feline partner.

''Participants, get ready! I'll now start to count back!"

Nino glanced up at them then hit a button on his equipment and This is Gonna Hurt from Sixx: A.M. started playing. He thought it would be just the perfect song for this race.

''So wanna see who is slowing down who, my Lord?" She poked him in the side while precisely placing her left foot right on the starting line.

''10"

The rhyme filled the stadium synchronizing with the pounding hearts of everyone.

''9"

''Well you can certainly try, Kitty cat." He did the same as her but with his right foot, eyes gleaming with mischief.

''8"

Max grabbed his calculator anxiously. This was it.

''7"

''And you can be sure I will, pretty boy." She slowly crouched down.

''6"

''You're partners, don't antagonize each other right before the race!" Alya exclaimed.

''5"

''Don't hold back when you need to ask for help." He nudged her as he lowered himself beside her.

''4"

''Break a leg, I guess?" She leaned forward, the fingertips of her right hand barely touching the ground.

''3"

''That's not the right phrase for now, you know it?" He flexed his legs, still perfectly mirroring her pose and movement as they were doing this since forever.

''2"

''Well I guess you just have to deal with it. Ready?" She glanced at him from the corner of her eye, that confident smirk still marring her lips.

''1"

''Ready as I ever be." He whispered back before his eyes snapped back at the obstacles, determination hardening in them.

''0!"

They vaulted themselves out like a rocket as the stadium erupted in cheers and excited shouts, while their friends' anxious gazes followed their every movement.

The first surprise came when the duo outran every other pair and jumped right onto the rings without hesitation.

Feels like your life is over,

Feels like no hope is gone,

You kiss it all away,

Maybe, maybe

Without any difficulty they launched themselves forward, three ring at the time and landed on the other side of the mud with a perfectly synchronized back flip when the other teams had barely gotten themselves up on the rings, some of them falling right into the mud.

''Okay, Adrien's one thing but when did Marinette learn to do back flips?" Nathaniel asked in utter disbelief.

The dynamic duo didn't waste their time and got to the brick wall.

This is a second coming,

This is a call to arms,

You'll find us now and we'll be,

Wasted, wasted

Marinette laced her fingers together as soon as they reached the wall giving her partner some momentum as he leapt onto her awaiting hands. As he jumped the handcuffs pulled the bluenette with him but instead of holding him back and making him fall backwards he made use of the extra energy and swung Marinette right at the top after he grabbed onto the edge of a brick. She flew straight to the top and without hesitation pulled her partner up.

And this all took them like… 2 seconds.

Hey, hey,

Hell is what you,

Make, make,

Rise against your,

Faith, faith,

Nothings gonna keep me down,

Even if it's killing you

Because you know the truth

At this point all eyes were on them and their classmates had difficult time getting their chins back up from the floor.

''…what the hell?" Alya held her phone in shaky hands and she couldn't take her eyes off of the duo.

No sooner had their feet hit the ground than they vaulted themselves forward, jumping fearlessly through the fire, their every movement still in complete sync.

Well listen up, listen up

There's a devil in the church,

Got a bullet in the chamber,

And this is gonna hurt

They were up on the rope, keeping their balance perfectly while climbing up and across and they didn't even stop till they were at the box tunnel.

Let it out, let it out,

You can scream, and you can shout

Keep your secrets in the shadows,

And you'll be sorry

The wind machine generated gust was proven to be more difficult than the other obstacles as it took almost a whole of 20 seconds to get through it.

Everybody's getting numb (everybody's getting numb)

Everybody's on the run (everybody's on the run)

Then with a last perfectly spot on jump they grabbed the zip line and slid into the finish line.

Listen up, listen up,

There's a devil in the church,

Got a bullet in the chamber,

And this is gonna hurt

Before anybody else even reached the ropes their feet hit the line officially making them the winner of the race and in record time.

For a moment there was silence then the crowd erupted in cheers and excited shouts yet again and the pair found themselves grinning from ear to ear while their friends were yet to reconnect their brains to their mouths.

''Blo-bloody hell…!" Ivan exclaimed before Mylene hit his arm in a scolding manner.

''How even…? The odds for this outcome-!" Max furiously typed on his calculator to re-calculate everything trying to make sense of the unimaginable.

''Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" Rose coming out of her stupor slowly started jumping up and down and grabbed onto Juleka to steady herself before shouting, almost screaming into the world. ''We won! We won the race!"

''Okay, who is that person, and what did she do to my best friend?" Alya walked up to Nino, eyes still locked on the duo.

''Same here. Not even Adrien should be that good." Nino glanced at his girlfriend then back at them. ''Do you think they are hiding something from us?"

The brunette snorted. ''Marinette and hiding secrets? Have you seen her room or how she normally acts around Adrien?" She waved a dismissive hand discarding even the possibility completely. ''That girl's like an open book, your boy's just an analphabet."

Her boyfriend chuckled at her. ''Yeah, being subtle is not a feature of Marinette."

Alya narrowed her eyes at him. ''Don't you dare only bash on my baby girl while your best buddy is as dense as the brick wall they just climbed."

Nino raised his hands in surrender. ''Relax woman, I know my bro better than anyone. He'll come around, believe me."

''I surely hope so. I didn't dress up Marinette extra sexy and dealt with all her freak outs to watch as she and pretty boy dance around each other in furry edition."

For this the Dj burst out in laughter.

''You know that ladybugs aren't furries, right?" He asked between breaths.

''Tell what you want, no matter what he's wearing, your boy is still a furry. Just a spotted one."

''He's a cosplayer, but I doubt he's ever donned a furry costume." Nino said as his laughter subsided into giggles.

''Believe me, I can feel it. Your best friend is definitely a secret furry."

''Nope, he's not. The end of the argument." The Dj won't let anybody drag down his bro into this furry mess, not even his girlfriend.

''Wanna bet?"

''What?!"

Alya smirked confidently at him. ''If you're so sure that Adrien is in fact not a secret furry – what he totally is – then it wouldn't hurt to back that claim with some money, would it?"

Nino narrowed his eyes, instinctively sensing the trap behind Alya's words but against better judgement he chose to defend his best friend no matter what. ''I'm in."

The brunette's eyes gleamed with satisfaction. ''Good, then 50 Euro on that Adrien is a secret furry."

''What?!'' The boy's eyes bulged out. ''Isn't that a little too much for one simple bet?"

''So you aren't that confident in your claim after all." Still smirking Alya shook her head mockingly.

He knew she played dirty but he wasn't about to back down. In contrary, it was time for him to play this game accordingly. ''Yes, I'm and you'll regret this moment when you hand me over that 50 Euro when this week is over."

''What?!" It was Alya's time to be bewildered. ''It's not even a whole week! I can't possibly prove it in that amount of time!"

''So what? Were you expecting me to wait around forever, never getting my 50 Euro while you can get the money anytime you prove your 'truth'? Isn't that a little unfair? And weren't you the one mocking me for not being confident enough in my claim? It's time for you to take the risk, ma Cherie." Nino grinned, seemingly satisfied that he got his girlfriend speechless for once.

Alya narrowed her eyes into a slit, showing her boyfriend the most fierce death glare. ''You're on cheeky boy and you'll regret it."

''Deal?" He offered his hand for his girlfriend that she grabbed and shook without missing a beat.

''Deal."

''What do you mean you were the muscle in the race? You obviously weren't paying attention!"

Their heads snapped in the direction of the loud exclamation, indicating their dynamic duo was currently exploring another type of dynamic and they weren't sure if it would be good for the team work if they went any further. The couple was worried that their friends got into a fight but when they laid eyes on them and saw the matching grins on their faces Alya and Nino were more confused than ever. What the hell was with them?

''Guys, please! It was perfect and fantastic team work. Neither of you did more than the other!" Rose tried to stop them but the two of them ignored her and every other classmates so far who tried to interfere with their debate on who had the more defined muscle work behind their victory.

''According to my calculations you two make a perfectly balanced team and-'' Max's attempt was in vain as well, as they cut him off.

''Well, I was the one who pulled us up to the top of the wall, wasn't I?" Marinette asked cheekily as she blew on her nails causally as the cool cat she was.

''You were acrobatic and all my dear partner, but I wouldn't think that the strength of a lithe girl like you – without any offense – would reach my level of defined muscles. By the way, I was the one who swung you up to the edge in the first place." Adrien grinned down at her flexing his arms.

The bluenette glanced at him from the corner of her eye seemingly unimpressed, then with a mischievous smirk suddenly poked him right in the stomach causing him to fall out of his pose and instinctively clutch at his stomach. The girl giggled at his pouting face.

''So are those supposed to be the rock hard abs? I have to say your stomach is definitely defined my Lord, I could probably even find all six packs, but still, with muscle mass alone you can't win. You have to have something more in you to succeed."

''Okay, what's going on?" Nino asked when they finally reached the scene. ''Are they arguing or something?"

Max just shook his head. ''I would rather call it some kind of endless flirty banter and it's really unstoppable."

''It's like they don't even need time to breath." Juleka whispered in some sort of awe, Rose nodding in agreement.

''We can't get them to stop and focus on the next game…"

''Like my cat like reflexes and flexibility?" Adrien wiggled his eyebrows realizing one second too late that he wasn't Chat Noir at the moment so this statement sounded pretty weird coming from his mouth. He nervously glanced down at his partner who, after a moment of confusing, adopted her former competitive grin again.

''Oh, you're trying to mock me, my silly partner? Just for your information this cat is pretty flexible and has great reflexes, not to mention…" She leaned closer to him, their faces only inches apart making him blush then she continued in a low voice. ''…I have my own lucky charm." His breath hitched and he felt his heart beating faster, practically banging on his ribcage, but the moment was gone in the second she flicked his little bun playfully. ''Pigbun!"

Adrien pouted yet again as his partner couldn't stop giggling at that stupid nickname and his pouting face. Marinette didn't know why but she just loved his pouting face. It reminded her so much of Chat Noir that she couldn't resist. These moments filled her inside with a familiar warmth she only ever felt with her partner. But Adrien wasn't aware of this, so he only saw the girl's antics as she trying to make fun of him. And he had enough of it.

''You promised me you would stop calling me that." He grumbled, still pouting.

''Well… Marinette promised you that, but Marinette isn't here now." She all but sing-sung while wiggling her index finger playfully.

The ladybug boy gritted his teeth but suddenly his grimace turned into a devilish smirk as an idea popped into his mind. ''Okay then, let's make a bet."

''A bet?" His partner tilted her head, questioning bright blue eyes adoring her face. They would have even made the impression of innocent curiosity if not for the traitorous smirk that tugged at the corner of her lips trying to resurface.

''Yes, if I win more individual games than you then you have to stop calling me pigbun. Forever."

''Forever is a little too long, don't you think? Let's make it a month. But I still don't see as how this bet is appealing to me in any way. What do I get if I win? A date from my bug-a-boy?" She leaned closer, sarcasm lacing her last question. She knew that Adrien just-a-friend Agreste would never grace her with an actual date. It was even in character for him to rebuke her advances.

Adrien felt like taking a step back, but he decided to resist the urge and faced the intimidating closeness with confidence, so after he gulped down the last of his nervousness he leaned even closer to her face, whispering, no, purring the next line to her. ''Whatever you want, ma Minette."

Something in that endearment almost caused Marinette's heart to explode and she had to use every inch of her body to fight down the furious blush that was creeping up from her chest to the top of her ears. In the end she managed to only have a strawberry degree flush coloring her cheeks.

This was unfair, she decided, but making him never call her that again somehow didn't even cross her mind. Nope, deep down she knew this was going to be the thing fueling her endless romantic fantasies from now on. Her new guilty pleasure.

But if it wasn't an option what should she choose? Then again best defense is a good offense so an open counter attack should be just perfect.

''A kiss."

''What?" The boy asked trying to mask his momentary shock with nervous laughter. When did Marinette become this forward?

''You hear me well.'' She smiled at him, as the picture of innocence yet again and still bad at hiding her mischievous smirk. ''If I win I want to get a kiss from my Lord as a prize. I think it's fair and square."

Adrien stared at her, his mind working a mile a minute while trying to figure out what she meant by this. Was this an act? She was sticking to the character of flirty Chat Noir? Or was there maybe a deeper meaning behind her words? Did she think she had no chance to win anyway so it didn't matter to her what she bet? He just couldn't wrap his head around it. In the end he decided any attempt at finding logic in the actions of the enigma that was Marinette was futile and he just had to accept the bet already.

''Okay, if I win you stop calling me pigbun, and if you win – not as it will ever happen – you get your kiss, deal?"

Marinette rolled her eyes at his confidence and reached out, seemingly to grab his offered hand but just before he could touch it she brought it up and flicked his nose in a teasing manner. ''Wanna bet?"

At this point the blond's eye twitched. All this incessant flirting, his restlessly racing heart and his partner's raw competitiveness finally pushing him to the point when he didn't care anymore, he just wanted to finally get back on this overly flirty, terribly competitive, furiously endearing, amazing, hot, intriguing-

He had to stop himself before he lost connection to this world again.

''Lordbug, the basketball shooting competition is about to start." Max announced and motioned to the court right beside the obstacle race. ''You have to throw the ball from 18 meters at least to win as we have some crazy outside competition here from actual adult teams and-''

Adrien didn't wait him to finish and calmly walked to to court, took a ball from another participant – who gaped at his bold behavior - and threw it right to the basket with seemingly no efforts from a good 23 meters. He turned back to look at his partner with an overly satisfied smirk even before the ball reached the basket, perfectly falling into the hoop. He raised an eyebrow with so much challenge twinkling in his eyes that it made Marinette's heart race and for a moment she felt again that familiar feeling like she were on the rooftops of Paris with her beloved partner. She could never deny a good challenge from Chat Noir and it seemed so she couldn't do it in the case of Adrien either.

An excited grin stretched onto her lips just as the crowd erupted in cheers upon the boy's perfect shot.

''This will be fun."

 **Next up: Monday: The sport festival**

 **I'm really looking for a beta reader right now to help me improve my English, but so far I had no luck :/**

 **Anyway, thanks for reading, please share your thoughts with me ^_^**


	7. Monday: The sportfestival

**Thank you for all the support I've received while being away! University and my projects consume most of my time and writing a chapter takes way too long for me. I can't name you all, but I was really happy to see your comments! They gave me strength to continue :)**

 **(Special thanks go to BabyGenius for betareading the first part. I'll use what I've learned from you in the upcoming chapters ^_^ )**

 **Anyway I hope you enjoy!**

''Alya…" Marinette audibly gulped ''How did you get me into this mess again?"

''Well…" The brunette trailed off, not knowing what to say as they eyed the nearly 2-meter-tall mountain of a man warming up his muscles inside the ring. When he flexed one, well-defined arm the two of them winced.

''Well…?" Accusing blue eyes pierced holes into golden ones and the ladyblogger couldn't hold her best friend's gaze.

''You know, when we had to hand in the application forms, things were a little hectic and I rushed to sign you up for as many things as I can while keeping in mind your abilities-''

''And you thought some fight to death with a meat tower would be within my abilities?!" The bluenette whisper-shouted in bewilderment with wild hand gestures towards the man.

''NO! Of course not! I wanted to sign you up to the 'Wonders in Wok' competition because I knew that would be an easy win for you-'' Alya, too, started gesticulating wildly with her arms.

''But?" Marinette raised an eyebrow.

Her shoulders slumped defeated. This was sucha Marinette thing to do, it wasn't her style to make a stupid mistake like this. ''But the contest's code was WiW, and I accidentally wrote an 'x' next to the one with the code 'WfW' that stands for-''

''Weightclass-free wrestling." The bluenette finished for her.

''…yeah." The brunette answered lamely with an awkward smile.

Her opponent flexed again, cracking his bones and making the cat girl even more nervous. ''You're getting me killed here, you know right?"

''Well, you can still give up your match, but that would mean losing against Adrien as he would not back down from any of his competitions and he's already ahead of you with two victories."

Marinette scoffed, turning her nose up in defiance. ''That's because he started earlier than me and neither of those contests took long. It's not like I lost a single competition, and Max made sure we had the exact same number of challenges making the bet fair."

''That means you won't back down?" Alya glanced at her opponent then back at her in worry.

''Oh, somebody's backing down already?"

Both the girls turned to see a bug boy with a self-satisfied smirk plastered on his face.

''Dream while you can. I'm about to give you a harsh wake up, Pigbun." Marinette answered with a smirk, trying to hide her inner nervousness. That man was huge.

Adrien looked at the large, well-built muscle monster, taking him in from head to toe and his smirk faded. ''Seriously, you don't have to do this, Mari."

''Any attempt at scaring me is futile, Agreste." _Because I'm already scared_ , she murmured in her head. ''I'll beat him and any other who stands in my way in beating you." She smirked, but even she could tell it was fake.

The boy frowned at her, momentary faltering in his competitiveness. Yes, he wanted to beat her, but he didn't want her to get beaten. Nope, he really hated the idea of her even as much as getting a scratch. Something inside of him screamed at him to protect her, but he knew she was a smart girl. She wouldn't get herself beaten up just because of a stupid bet… right?

Before any of them could change their minds, the loudspeaker came to life. ''Weightclass-free Wrestling, Participant number 24 and number 36, please come to ring number 4, the match is about to begin."

Marinette's eyes snapped back to the monster waiting for her, but after a side glance to the bugboy next to her she clenched her fists, gritted her teeth and started to walk to the ring with new found determination sealing away her surging panic.

Alya and Adrien exchanged worried looks before following her.

She got her opponents attention as she stepped into the ring. The man just glanced at her at first before looking away uninterested, but as if he'd seen a ghost his eyes snapped back to her with bewilderment, taking the petite girl in.

''Little girl, I think you're in the wrong place." He chuckled and gestured at the event's banner.

''No, there is no mistake, monsieur." The girl answered without missing a beat while fixing her clothes. At least she should look good. It wasn't as if she wasn't prepared for the surprised looks their spectators were giving them.

''Are you sure?" The man asked while checking out first the ring's then his own number, but everything seemed to be correct on his part. The idea of her being a referee came to his mind – it was an event organized by kids after all – but seeing her number stomped on her chest confirmed that she, in fact, was another participant. Still, there should be some kind of mistake here.

''Yes, monsieur." Marinette said tiredly. She scanned the crowd around them from the corner of her eyes, but the faces of her classmates weren't giving her any kind of reassurance. _They should have at least put up a brave face or something_ , she scoffed in herself. Honestly, all of this was just making matters worse. She knew this situation was ridiculous, she didn't need all of the people to remind her, thank you very much.

Then the man all but had the audacity to laugh. Loudly, nonetheless, gaining the attention of even more people.

She sighed. Could they just get over with this?

''Is…is this some… some kind of bet, lil' girl?" He asked between laughs. ''Because sorry, but I won't let you win just because you're a girl."

Marinette eyed the ever growing crowd around them but still tried to force down the nervousness gathering in her chest, burning her throat hot and answering in a steady voice.

''In some aspect, it is, but I didn't expect you to go easy on me, monsieur, as I am not planning to do that myself."

To this the man stopped laughing. This little pitiful girl? Going easy on him? A heavyweight boxing champion in high school? He might not have practiced for years and his reflexes were a little slower, but this… this was an atrocity!

''Little girl, you better back down now or you may get seriously hurt. I'm a gentleman, but I can't guarantee that you get out of this unscratched, little brat, so step down and let me fight some real opponents here."

The bluenette didn't like the way he was talking to her, but she decided no to say anything about it. Better not to anger this muscle monster any further. She wasn't a stranger to giant men as her father was one himself, but this man wasn't really giving out that 'gentle giant' vibe like her father did.

''It wasn't my intention to insult you, monsieur, but I take this contest seriously just like you, so there is no way I'm backing down." She said in the calmest voice she could muster up and took up a position indicating she was ready to fight.

The man's answer was pure mockery.

''Hahahaha, you? Fighting me? How delusional are kids nowadays?! Just look at yourself! A little girl playing with the big boys? Hahahaha, I can't stop laughing!"

Alya and the others were watching the exchange with growing nervousness as their friend was visibly getting more nervous with each second as the man was clutching at his stomach, laughing at her, while Adrien had a hard time restraining himself from jumping into the ring and showing this man just how wrong he was. His hands were clenched into fists tightly beside his body.

The ladyblogger was starting to think this wasn't the best idea, and looking around the immerse crowd gathered around them she had no idea how she could step in without making the situation even worse for Marinette and her other friends shared the same predicament.

''Juleka, what should we do?" Rose whispered into the goth girl's ear as she hugged her from behind.

''I don't know, Rose." She whispered back helplessly and tightened the hug.

''This is bad." Max kept typing furiously into his computer, sweat dropping from his knitted eyebrows, as he tried to find a solution with Markov. ''All the possible out comes will ruin our reputation."

''Maybe we should just back down?" Mylene stepped next to him. ''Marinette is a really talented girl, I know it, but this man is just scary."

''I have to agree." Chloe appeared seemingly out of nowhere making the other three jump. Then their gazes turned suspicious. ''What? As much as I want her to lose against my Adrikins – no way I'm letting her kiss him – I don't want her to get hurt. Dupain-Cheng is a tough cookie, but she has her limits too."

Max looked at the others and they all nodded. Lastly he looked in the direction of Adrien and Alya, and made eyecontact with the latter – as Adrien's full of ire glare was fixated on the man – and silently asked for her permission. Alya glanced at her trembling best friend with guilt then turned her attention back to Max and with a deep frown followed by a slow and reluctant nod the brunette let him do what they had to.

''Referee-''

''And look at that ridiculous costume of yours! What do you want to be? Cat-woman? Kitty-lady? Oh, don't tell me you're dressed up as that pathetic excuse for a sidekick jumping on the rooftops of Paris?"

Suddenly everybody's except Adrien's blood in the class ran cold and Marinette stopped trembling.

''Chat Noir, that skinny little boy tailing Ladybug all the time, playing crime-fighting! Are you really dressed up as Chat Noir, the pathetic sidekick?!" The man continued to laugh and insult her but the rest of his blabbering washed out, leaving only one sentence echoing in her head.

…Chat Noir, the pathetic sidekick…

…the pathetic sidekick…

…pathetic sidekick…

…sidekick…

…SIDEKICK…

''Oh no." Whispered Alya.

''Oh no." Said the girl squad.

''Oh no." Echoed the entire class.

Adrien snapped out of his ready to kill state and looked around as he was just leaving a trance. His expression changed from surprised to confused when he saw all his classmates freeze up.

''What?"

''Dude." Whispered Nino from next to him, who he didn't even know was there until that exact moment. ''Dude… you never EVER bad mouth Chat Noir in front of Marinette."

''What?" Adrien repeated himself, more confused than ever, but his only answer was a trembling finger pointing at front of them. His gaze followed the direction the finger was pointing at just in time to see as the bluenette's eyes flashed up in a very dangerous new electric hue of blue.

''Chat Noir…"

The man looked up between laughter that soon died in his throat.

''…is not…"

The air froze around them and he suddenly felt an instinct to run.

''...A SIDEKICK!"

But it was already too late to escape and his scream was cut off by a petite yet furious cat-demon smashing him hard onto the floor.

''Chat Noir..."

Marinette kicked the man behind his knees making him stumble.

''...is a valuable..."

Then kicked him right in the head sending him forward headfirst into the frame.

''...and irreplaceable..."

Now she jumped up for a head lock yanking her opponent backwards.

''...part of the duo..."

With a flawless move she avoided the man's desperate attempt to hit her and free himself but for the fun she released him anyway before pushing him right into the ropes.

''...who deserves all the recognition..."

He sprung back right into her fist with his stomach.

''...that the people of Paris can offer..."

Then she tripped him, sending him to the floor yet again.

''...And more!"

Then came the next punch.

''Ugh"

The audience winced.

Then the next one.

''Ugh"

Some turned away others took out their phones.

Then a hard kick.

''Aaaagh"

Juleka covered Rose's eyes, but she peeked through her fingers.

The referee was too caught up in the moment to interfere.

''He's brave!"

Punch.

''He's kind!"

Kick.

''He's selfless!"

Then she just deliberately climbed onto one of the posts...

''He's the best partner Ladybug could ask for and if I need to I'll beat it into every single Parisian!"

...and jumped.

How a '50 kgs with iron bed' teenage girl managed to cause such an impact would remain a mystery to all who witnessed that day as Chat Noire smashed her opponent into the ground completely annihilating the poor guy.

She stood up and prepared to continue but before she could hit him again he could finally catch his breath to form words.

''I'm sorry! Chat Noir is the best, I'm not worthy of even looking at him, he is the hero of Paris, the best of the best, just please stop... Stop! I'm begging you!"

Marinette didn't have time to consider his words as the referee softly – and carefully – made her step down from the back of the whining man understanding that this was the perfect opportunity to end this before she executed him on stage.

Nino had enough presence of mind to start up his DJ equipment again and select just the perfect song in the form of Halestorm by Mz. Hyde.

''Pictures! Pictures!" Chloe shoved Theo forward who started to take pictures as the song came to life and the referee lifted Chat Noire's arm into the air.

And in that moment the audience had gone from dead silent to insane.

 _In the daylight,_

 _I'm your sweetheart,_

''Make your bet! Chat Noire vs Lordbug! Don't be a mere spectator, be part of the game!" Mylene shouted sitting on Ivan's right shoulder with a megaphone she yanked out from one of the organizers hand, who didn't have the courage to ask it back from teenager meat-tower and the other crazy girl from 'that class'.

 _You're goody-two-shoes prude is a work of art._

 _But you don't know me,_

''Merchandize! Buy Chat Noire shirt, posters and other souvenirs!" Nathaniel, Rose and Juleka seized the opportunity as well, already gathering a little crowd around them while others still cheered for the cat girl with full force.

 _And soon you won't forget,_

 _Bad as can be, yeah you know I'm not so innocent_

Alya helped Adrien lift his chin up from the floor gaining the wide-eyed blond's attention, his entire expression begging for some kind of explanation but of course, his only answer was a devilish smirk.

 _Better beware I go bump in the night,_

 _Devil-may-care with a lust for life,_

Marinette decided to exit the ring that moment, jumping right in front of her partner. Personal space forgotten she leaned into him with her own devilish smirk, putting a finger on his lips.

''And I know you... can't resist me... Soon, though, you... are so addicted." Her whispering in perfect sync with the song caused chills running down his spine in a best, and at the same time, worst kind of way, before she turned on her heals and left him utterly speechless and madly blushing.

''Boy you better run for your life!" Alya's chuckles rang in his ears.

''What do you think now?" Kim breathlessly asked from an equally breathless Alix, both of them just barely got back before the annihilation started after getting an IBC – Idiot Bad-mouthing Chat Noir – code in text from Max. Hell no they would want to miss something like this. ''Who would win?"

''My bet is on my sis, Marinette. She's a force to be reckoned with!" Laughed heartfelt Alix.

''Sorry but my buddy, Adrien's still more likely to win with all his extracurricular. Marinette's good but not as experienced as Adrien." The jock stated confidently but his self-assurance fell on deaf ears.

''Don't you have any eyes!? Marinette just straight up destroyed that guy!" The short girl exclaimed incredulously.

''Then wanna bet?" Kim reached a hand with a challengingly cocked eyebrow.

''I don't want to..." Alix started out uninterested looking away with the most unimpressed look she could muster up before her expression morphed into one with shit-eating grin. ''...destroy you, but if you're asking for it..." Then she grabbed his hand and pulled him in her direction with such a force he stumbled forward and with releasing his hand she just let him fall flat on his face.

''Just don't regret it." With those last words she skated away, grabbing her stuff to sell on the way. ''By the way, I'll still sell more food than you, dumbass!"

With a more than fired up audience, class and duo the sportfestival continued.

 _Welcome to the nightmare in my head,_

''...and the winner is Lordbug!"

 _(Oh god!)_

''...the victory goes for Chat Noire!"

 _Say hello to something scary,_

''Buy Hambugger or Spotcorn! The most spot on snacks for heroes' week!" Kim shouted, his arms full with red and black popcorn and hamburgers in the same color plate.

''Buy Hotcat and Pawsicles instead! Chat Noire themed foods are the most trending today!" Shouted over him a very food-overloaded Alix, balancing cat-themed hotdogs and icecreams while skating through the crowd.

 _The monster in your bed,_

''Another victory for the spotted hero!"

 _(Oh god!)_

''This cat girl can't be stopped!"

 _Just give in and you won't be sorry,_

''Posters! Signed posters are available here!" Rose offered through another megaphone seized from an unsuspecting – and kind of scared – organizer.

''Good, good." Chloe said while inspecting the newest pictures taken by Theo. ''I want them on shirts in half an hour. Now hurry everybody, we don't have all day!"

 _Welcome to my other side,_

 _Hello it's Mz. Hyde!_

''Excuse me." A very formally dressed man stepped to Mylene who was just counting the money after waving goodbye to the last costumer at her gambling stall. She looked up to the man completely umphased by his supposedly intimidating posture.

''Can I help you in any way, monsieur?"

''Yes, it came to my attention that you are operating a gambling boots." He said authoritatively straightening his coat but honestly, he was a little taken aback by the girl's nonchalantness.

''You got that right. Do you wish to place a bet? We have different options and even combos with good probability rates." Mylene asked offhandedly as she were flipping through her little notebook, checking out the info Max just sent to her.

''That's not what I wanted to discus here young lady." He coughed trying to mask his irritation finally gaining the attention of said young lady who arched an eyebrow with an amused smile. That was the moment the man figured out she knew exactly what he wanted to talk about and still wasn't bothered by it. This, of course, angered him. His eyebrows scrunched together in an angry manner as he drew in a breath and opened his mouth to onslaught a well-earned lecture upon the girl when the words were caught in his throat.

A giant shadow towered over him from behind the girl sitting comfortably on her chair. As his eyes traveled up from the girl to the not-happy-at-all face well 2 heads above his own he relented before he could even start his rant.

''Is there any problem, Mylene Dear?" Ivan asked in his deep, intimidating voice eyeing the man.

''Of course not, Teddy Bear. This nice gentleman just wanted to talk about something seemingly important with me." She smiled up at him then her gaze fell back to the man in front of them. ''What was it again, monsieur?"

''I… khm… Well, I just wanted to let you know you could use one of the stadium's safe case. Just to make sure there wouldn't be any issues with the money."

''That's really nice of you, monsieur. Thank you." Mylene smiled sweetly, texting Max the news. ''Are you sure, you don't want to make a bet, though? I can even give you some inner tips."

The man looked at her then the giant behind her and felt himself trapped. What was with these kids?

Nevertheless, he couldn't exactly say no. ''Khm… Right… Then I would like to bet 20 Euros on Chat Noire. I like cats."

''20 Euros? Aren't taking risks today, are we?" Ivan asked raising an eyebrow in pure mockery at him.

'I can't believe these kids' he thought to himself but – gritting his teeth – he fished out a 50 Euro bill from his wallet.

''50 Euros that the cat wins all the competitions she participates in." He slammed the bill into the girl's awaiting hand then stormed off to report those kids if he couldn't dealt with them himself. Realizing a minute too late, that now that he himself took part in the shaming he couldn't get out of this unscratched either. So with a few swearing words he just went back to sit somewhere in the auditorium out of sight so he could be fuming a little alone, causing the couple the chuckle.

Mylene didn't like playing dirty, but when she wanted she was hella good at it.

At this point almost every Adrien Agreste fan girl got her hands on a Lordbug poster and various other souvenirs so a significant amount of people were walking around in red and black spotted merchandise but they were nothing compared to the immerse mob of crazed catboys and catgirls literally swarming the entire place continuously chanting Chat Noire's name.

''Chat Noire! Look here!" An excited boy with black cat ears shouted while trying to get out of the crowd.

''Chat, you are my hero!" A young blond girl cried out while clutching a black cat plush to her chest.

''Kitty, kitty! Come to your daddy!" A grown man whistled and waved to her.

Marinette turned to the crowd with an unimpressed look. She grabbed a white board and started to scribble something on it using both sides. Then she held it in front of her to showcase it to all of the audience and cameras directed at her.

'No cat calling.' Said the board and she used an indignant pout to emphasize it, then turned it over to show to other side. 'This kitty has claws.' Then she grinned and made a kitty like hand gesture accompanied with a meow.

The crowd went insane.

But even with all the happy people cheering and shouting everywhere there was one guy whose pouting face was nothing sort of fake.

''Why is she so popular, Nino?" Adrien asked turning away from all the commotion with a sour expression.

''What do you mean? Marinette is doing her part excellently. It's no wonder people go crazy for her!" The boy exclaimed, the pride over their success radiating off of him.

''Yeah, yeah, but she is getting more attention, than Chat Noir ever did. I mean, Mari is good, but Chat Noir is actually saving people!" The blond glanced over to the girl in question but seeing her sending an air kiss to all her fans who were only held back my some security guards made him look away, his frown deepening immediately.

Nino's brows furrowed in confusion. It wasn't like Adrien to act like this. ''Bro, what's your problem? It's just a show nothing to be so pouty over." When he got no response he stepped closer and draped an arm around his best friend's shoulder turning him so they faced the scene again. ''Look at that girl. She is doing amazing there just to make our class succeed and get that free week. Celebrities get always the most attention and our heroes don't really stay around after akuma attacks to get all the adoration of their fans. But look at the Ladyblog and how many people actually follow their every fight and cheer on them. Or just look around here, all the people came here to celebrate our heroes, even if our catgirl is getting all the attention."

He finished with a smile but to his disappointment Adrien's sour expression didn't change one bit. What was with him?

Then one of the fans threw a red rose towards Chat Noire and she grabbed it out of the air gracefully bringing it down to her nose to feel the sweet scent giving the crowd a brilliant smile.

Nino watched as his friend's cheeks adopted a hue very similar to the rose's and he looked away yet again while pouting like and indignant child.

The Dj immediately brought a hand up to his mouth to try and hide the laughter exploding from him without much success. Adrien's eyes snapped back at his friend just to see him slowly descending to the floor, his arm dropping from his shoulder to clutch his stomach seemingly dying from anoxia but something told him, he shouldn't feel sorry for him even for a moment.

''What's so funny?" The blond boy asked cautiously.

''Oh my god! You're jealous because all these people getting Marinette's attention and not you!" Nino said while taking deep breaths and wiping tears from his eyes.

''Wha- No, I'm not!" Adrien huffed turning away from the other boy.

''I never thought those green eyes hid a real green eyed monster." Nino couldn't help the smug smile forming on his lips.

''You can't be serious, Nino! Marinette is just my friend, nothing more!" He denied but the deepening red on his face told otherwise and the Dj's smile turned devilish.

''Yeah, and all those people over there want to be her friends too, I'm sure. Should we go and help some guys with good inner and outer qualities know her better?"

Nino pressed as he leaned into his personal space, draping his arm around his shoulder yet again, but Adrien just didn't want to meet his eyes.

''There is no need, Marinette has just enough friends who are wonderful enough for her."

''Aw, thanks bro for thinking I'm wonderful." The Dj coed forming a heart with his hands.

The blond rolled his eyes but grinned back at him then freed himself from the awkward side hug and started to walk away.

''We've a match to win, did you forget?" He turned back halfway with a smirk.

''Nope, dude. I've got your back." Nino said, punching some buttons on his equipment to start a new song as he sped after his best friend.

So again, there were tons of people wearing red and black spotted design and even more who adorned some black cat themed attire. Of course, this was hero appreciation week so there were numerous boots that were selling Chat Noir and Ladybug stuff in the stadium and a good amount around the city so this very welcomed attention Mlle Bustier's class had gotten should have been driving costumers to the vendors equally.

Well, should have. But when you have Alya Césair and Chloe Bourgeois as your team's head managers things get naturally out of their natural flow like a wild spring stream: dancing on the edge of chaos while still thriving to break through and succeed.

Alya saw as some school boys were eyeing a vendor talking about wearing matching cat ears.

She grinned and threw a side glance to Chloe who returned it with her own smirk.

''Nathaniel, cat ears." The blonde diva held out her hands and in a few seconds a dozen of cat themed headbands were placed in them.

''Chat!" The ladyblogger waved with her right arm. ''Come here!"

Marinette looked in their direction and followed her signal. ''What's it, Alya?"

''Kiss these." She said and grabbed one of the items from Chloe's hand.

The catgirl gave her a funny look but knowing better than question it she just went ahead and kissed the headband showed in her face. Immediately after Rose handed Alya a megaphone with a sweet smile and stepped back causing the bluenette to do the same purely out of instinct.

''Everyone! Cat themed headbands kissed by no other than Chat Noire!"

''Limited edition, only while the stock lasts!" Chloe added after grabbing the megaphone herself.

Suddenly they were swarmed and to Marinette's dread Rose and Juleka wheeled a wagon full of cat headbands next to her. She gulped down her horror and put on a smile as convincing as she could muster to get rid of all these cursed items before Alya could get another idea.

The 'kitty kissed' goodies were sold just as fast as the temperature rose amoungst all the other vendors to a point that would put hell to shame. Soon enough M Damocles was receiving a bunch of complains from people selling their own stuff along with the class supposedly be in charge.

''M Damocles, this can't go any further! All of the attention goes to Mlle Bustier's class and they use this to monopolize the market! We and others can barely sell anything because as soon as one of the she-demons catches sight of it they come up with a strategy to take even that little interest we could get rendering our sales to next to nothing!" A boy their age, Martin complained to the principal animatedly while his peers just stood there in silence.

''Oh come on! Profit maximalization does not make us some kind of monsters!" Chloe huffed crossing her arms in front of her chest.

''The way you do it is purely evil!" Shouted back Martin.

''Keep your cool students. We're here to have a calm discussion." M Damocles stepped in before things could get out of hand.

''We may went a little overboard with 'profit maximalization' but your statements are not really true." Alya joined the conversation, Max right next to her his calculator ready in hand.

''According to my data here we're taking up 80% of the sales but we increased the buying mood by at least 540%. Everything else is pure math. All in all we are not taking away profit we didn't create in the first place." He explained showing all the necessary data on his device as he righted his glasses with a confident smile. ''You can easily review and verify my data and analysis if you wish so."

''No, I don't think that would be necessary Max. Thank you." The principal said getting dizzy from all the numbers just shown to him.

''But this is supposed to be our event when we can earn money, not them!" Martin yelled visibly pissed then turned to the girls. ''What would you say if we barged into your event and stole all the profit you can get?!"

''Well, you can try." Alya smirked putting one hand on her hip. ''We always welcome real competition."

The boy just growled.

''Don't blame us for your own incompetence. It's not our fault our team could come up with better ideas in the span of a few hours than you after days. And all the profit earned during the events by the classes goes to charity anyway, so it's not like we're gathering the money for ourselves." Chloe was starting to get annoyed herself.

''But this is a competition. You should earn money on your own event and not snatch the opportunity from other classes. This is just unfair!" Martin pointed at the blonde accusingly but was rendered silent with her icy glare.

The man scratched his beard in thought completely lost as to what to do. On one hand he understood how the appearance of 'that class' lowered the chances of any other classes considerably and it really wasn't hard to see why. On the other hand there were no rules against participating and collecting money on other classes' events. He couldn't even expect Mlle Bustier's famous negotiation skills as after dealing with 'that class' for years even the kind and nice teacher would jump at the opportunity to get a break and refuse any help that would endanger her golden dream.

''M Damocles, there is really nothing to discus about here." Alya said suddenly in such a calm manner it made seemingly no sense in the heated conversation but this was exactly that made a chill of dread run down on Martin's spine. ''If the other class wants exclusive rights to sell in their event, we have no problem with that."

''You don't?" M Damocles and Martin asked in unison.

''We don't?" Chloe exclaimed dumbfounded.

The man was surprised while the boy more like suspicious. Max only arched one of his eyebrows waiting patiently for the cunning fox's plan.

''No, I think if our fellow students feel like we are intruding in their sport festival we can't really do anything about it and should just leave... altogether." She finished with a devilish smirk and a very dangerous glint in her eyes.

A matching smug smirk stretched on Chloe's face, who finally caught on what was just happening.

''I mean we should just pack up and take our winning super duo with us to make some great advertising near the Eiffel tower, maybe at the Noire Dame or the Louvre. I'm sure our dedicated fans will find no trouble with accompanying us and we could even get some additional attention out there." She was thinking out loud, being absolutely nonchalant about it. ''What do you think, Chloe? Will we manage all the packing and stuff? Max, will we be able to keep up our profitability?"

''I certainly think we can move everything in time with a little help from daddy. Just give me the location." The blonde diva said already lifting her phone to her ear.

Max kept furiously typing into his calculator before giving the results. ''It seems like if we go now and give a notice to all the fans around we could still be profitable even with the loss of revenue with the moving time and all the additional costs of changing locations."

Martin and the other kids paled realizing what all of this meant.

''Wait, wait! You can't just take a large chunk of our audience! We're only half way through the games, who would we sell all the food and merchandise to we spent our allowance on?!"

''Well, you can't expect us to stay here while earning nothing when we can just go and make profit elsewhere." Chloe told them as she inspected her nails.

''We came here to advertise our own event and we did exactly that. Now it's time to make profit, either here or elsewhere." The ladyblogger said taking a step forward to intimidate the boy even more. ''It's your choice."

Martin's and the others' faces contorted in helpless anger.

Max suddenly cleared his throat to get everyone's attention before he suggested. ''We can actually work together. If you're willing to sell us the food and merchandise you're storing with a 10% discount we will take that off your hands or you can join in the business sharing the profit accordingly."

''Max, what's this about?" Alya whispered into his ear while leaning as close as she could keeping their conversation strictly to themselves.

''We're almost out of both merchandise and food, but we still have food coloring and our little artsy team. If they lend us their unused food materials we could make even more from it and they wouldn't loose costumers because of the design quality of their food so it's a win-win. Not to mention their merchandise are apart from the special Chat Noire and Lordbug stuff basically the same as ours. This is a golden opportunity."

The brunette only nodded in understanding before facing towards the members of the other class and the principal again.

''So are you gonna to accept our generous offer or what?" Alya grinned offering her hand to Martin.

The boy took a few deep breath, deep and slow, to calm himself, cursing every star upon the sky for crossing paths with a class worth of crazed multi-talented people, before he reached out to shake it muttering something unintelligible that sounded a lot like 'generous offer my ass'.

''We're looking forward to work together." Max showed a few papers full of instructions in his hand before letting Rose take up the role of coordinator. The girl appeared out of nowhere, her kind smile and friendly cheerful attitude as present as ever improving the mood immediately.

The trio of Alya, Chloe and Max walked back to the main team to check upon their progress just as both Marinette and Adrien won a match simultaneously. The ever growing crowd excited shouts were mixing with Feel invincibly by Skillet from Nino's Dj equipment as the referees announced the winners to both games setting the mood perfectly. People drinking and eating black cat and ladybug themed food, wearing spots and paws, dancing and fooling around in cat ears and bug antennas like one massive swarm of red and black with some green gave a sight that one could even call mesmerizing or hypnotizing as lack of better word. Seeing all the people happy and full of energy put a smile on Marinette's face, a real genuine one that made herself too, radiate from happiness causing one certain bugboy to stare helplessly at her. Even if someone noticed they didn't say a word. Theo silently snapped a picture or two wearing that same kind of seemingly contagious smile Marinette sneaked on everyone's face. Even Chloe did smile. Proud that for once in some way she can be a cause behind so many people's joy. Even if this wasn't the main objective it was the sweetest collateral effect one could ask for. Well, the more their profit grew the more they could contribute to the charity so maybe their main objective wasn't that bad in the end either.

The matches continued along with the winning streak, there was not a single defeat in either part, the two heroes were running about neck-and-neck teasing each other at every single opportunity.

The young genius kept observing the two as they won game after game. They were not equal in every term, Adrien had better reflexes while Marinette easily came up with creative solutions for example, but in whole they were equal to each other and above them extremely good. Too good to be honest. Max didn't know how it was possible for two individuals to be this good and balancing each other's abilities perfectly with their own at the same time. I mean, of course he knew that there was always a slight change something improbable can occur, after all they lived with a supervillain and two superheroes with magical powers in their city, but it just seemed too unbelievable, implausible to be true. Even so he had to believe his own eyes and data. Maybe the magic surrounding them made unlikely events have a higher chance? He should investigate it at some point. For now he just had this bugging feeling he was missing something from the overall picture that would explain some of this. He shook his head. Maybe he should ask Markov or something.

After hours of exercising themselves the final, joined match came. A match that seemingly wouldn't solve a single thing. Both Lordbug and Chat Noire had the same amount of victories and this game, participated by both of them couldn't really draw a clear winner in their competition. This, of course, distressed both of them.

''What were the chances you would get this far? I thought you would lose at least one kitty ear being distracted with all of your fans and all." Adrien coed before flicking on one of said cat ears.

Marinette, smile still in place stepped into his personal space, they almost nose to nose now, then suddenly grabbed onto the edge of his pants and pulled them upwards making the boy almost jump. ''You should watch your spotted ass better, your pants started slipping down."

The blond blushed little embarrassed but came to his senses quickly. He still couldn't get used to how well this girl could tease him without missing a beat. She was like Ladybug but without any restriction. It was refreshing and infuriating at the same time.

''Ha ha, really funny. Let's see how funny it will be when I get you apologize and swear never to use that atrocious nickname again."

''Do you mean Pigbun?" She grinned at him sneaking an arm behind his back to flick on his manbun. He dodged the attack expertly knowing all to well what she was up to at this point and took a step back enjoying the puffed cheeks in a pout and stuck out tongue in response of his smug grin at her failed attempt.

''You're getting predictable."

''Maybe so, but that won't take away from the sweet victory when I get you to wear that bun for at least a week."

''Oh come on, you don't have to hide you want that kiss from me with lame excuses." Adrien said and he even had the nerve to send her a playful wink.

Marinette's cheek warmed and she barely managed to choke down a squeak. She all but buried that one little detail into the dark void of her mind to keep herself functioning. She didn't really think through this bet, did she?

''Unfortunately you won't enjoy my soft lips as the victory will be mind." His pity made it all the worse but it actually helped her to push her jittery feelings to the back of her mind and forge an instant comeback. The playful bantering went back and fort until one Dj had just enough.

''Kids, kids! Calm down. It's almost time for the last match. You should, I don't know, be preparing yourself, resting your muscles or something." Nino separated the two by stepping between them but they still were very keen on continuing their little lip fit. He sighed trying leading away Adrien. ''Oh come on guys, leave something to your first date, will you?"

This finally got both of them blushing madly before turning away abruptly looking anywhere than the other, Marinette reciting 'concentrate on the match, only on the match' while Adrien repeating 'she is just a friend' in his mind over and over again.

Their red-faced ridiculous rehearse was cut short by one over excited jock who practically jumped on the blond boy. ''Guuuuys, it's finally time for dodgeball! I can finally show Alix how much better I'm at this sport as well!"

The small pink-haired girl only huffed. ''As if. You only beat me at food selling because people have a bias towards hamburgers."

''Hambuggers, lil' girl and you only say that because you're a sour loser." Kim laughed before stealing Alix's hat.

She tried to get it back but he was tall enough to hold it out of her reach. ''Says the one who keeps whining every single time he loses a bet."

''Well, every time I lose there is something fishy with the rules so I have the right to complain."

''Rules you did previously agreed to, apehead." The girl jumped then tried to climb onto him when that didn't give her the wanted result.

''That's enough Kim, Alix." Alya grabbed the hat and handed it back to Alix who put it back on her head with a grateful smile. ''We still have a match to win, so keep your energy to it."

''Ah yeah, you will be the fifth member of our team, right?" Kim asked as he took her in with her gym clothes on.

''You look great, Babe." Nino placed a kiss on her temple hugging her from the side.

''Thanks." The brunette grinned back at him giving him a peek on the lips.

''Get a room guys." The jock huffed irritated.

''Oh don't be jealous because Odine couldn't be here today, she'll pick you up after this, won't she loverboy?" Alya laughed at how red she could get the poor guy even after years. No wonder, Odine and him just recently got back together after a messy 'timeout'. Being overemotional did not help teens to make good decisions and handle things calmly but being honest and open did help them make up.

''Maybe..." The smile on his face as he muttered this said it all. After mopping around for weeks he was happy again.

''Chat, we need to readjust your make up!" Rose shouted from a few meters away from them getting her brushes and eye-liners ready.

''Coming!" Marinette called back and made her way to her and Juleka.

''Come here, Agreste! Let's warm up!" Alya said before grabbing onto his arm and dragging him away just to return him 5 minutes later utterly flustered just as his partner got her smirk reapplied and returned to his side just as flustered as he was. They didn't say a word just walked to the court silently followed by the bickering pair of Alix and Kim.

Nino raised an eyebrow. ''What did you do to him?"

Alya batted her eyelashes innocently at the accusation. ''Me? Nothing."

The boy just sighed and shook his head before giving her one last 'do your best' and taking his place as to Dj again.

After Nino left Rose came up to Alya with Juleka in tow sharing a knowing smirk and a quick high five.

''Everyone, are you ready to start the last game of the sportfestival?" Alek called out now in person getting the crowd even more hyped. ''Dreadful Dodgeball is one of my favorite games. You can always turn around the chances and grab the victory out of your opponent's hand. You ask me how? It's easy just let's look at the rules! You start out with 5 people in each team, both parties trying to eliminate the other team's players either with hitting them with a ball – provided one to each participant in the start of the game later you need to catch one yourself – wherever you see fit except the head – we're pro-keeping-your-teeth after all – or catch a ball thrown at you directly."

''When you eliminate a player on the other team," he continued," one player can join your team, new players and previously eliminated players are both allowed. If you catch a ball directly then eliminate the same player, still on the court, who threw it it's considered a 'double kill' and two players can join your team at the same time, so I would advice you not to stay long if your ball was caught by the enemy kids. It also considered a 'double kill' when you catch the ball bouncing back right from the opponent you just eliminated and you eliminate another opponent with it. In this case in fact it's a 'double-double kill' and not two but four players can join your team at once. If you're in a pinch go for it!"

He waited for the crowd's reaction before adding the last rule. ''If we reach the 10 minutes threshold the game changes to sudden death, meaning from that point you can't gain teammates by eliminating players from the other team so you have to work with what you have."

Everybody took in the unorthodox dodgeball rules and started to speculate amongst each other, discussing what would be the best tactic in this situation and such with excitement.

''Any question? No? Then folks, let's start the game!"

The audience cheered and the first match began.

Really, it was an easy win for a team consisting of two trained jocks, the superduo and Alya Cesaire who was superfit considering she have been chasing around the heroes for more than 3 years now. The second match came and they beat their new opponents just as easily as the previous ones. This went on until they reached the semifinals but along the way our team became a little... cocky.

''Haha, come on! This is the best you can do? Seriously, I can dodge those half-heartedly thrown balls with my eyes closed!" Kim taunted the other guys even going as far as wiggling his ass at them. They threw several balls targeting him but just as he said he was able to dodge them effortlessly.

''This is the best you can do, Kim? I can dodge them with my eyes closed and arms behind my back!" Alix shouted, keeping up their usual bickering throughout the game.

Alya was a real ace on their team in the beginning, keeping up the tempo dictated by the others just fine and eliminating enemy one after another. But somewhere around the third match Adrien or Marinette – she couldn't really pick out who was the genius behind the idea as she, at least, was concentrating on the actual game – came up with the brilliant idea to settle their bet with a 'who is protecting Alya better' contest. This meant not only that she was constantly hindered by idiots jumping in front of her 'protecting' her from incoming balls – or getting anywhere near a ball at all – but that she was constantly pushed back and fort by said idiots preventing her from doing anything that resembling of actual playing.

''I can protect Alya just fine, Agreste! Mind your own business and accept your defeat already!" Marinette yelled as she grabbed a ball out of the air aimed at Alya. A ball so slow and predictable that could have been a perfect double kill ball for Alya, but no, they just had to interfere yet again ticking the Ladyblogger off more and more.

''You call that protecting?" Adrien shouted back while tackling – absolutely unnecessarily – Alya to the ground. ''I can't let my best friend's girlfriend receive that kind of 'protection'. How would I look him in the eye after that?"

''I think he would appreciate it if you didn't take your sweet time draping yourself all over said girlfriend." The catgirl smirked as she eliminated another player with a perfectly aimed ball.

The model blushed and quickly jumped off of Alya but before he could help her up he jumped into action to catch an obviously no-hit ball thrown at the brunette and this stupid contest continued.

At this point neither of them except her was really paying any attention to the other team focusing more on competing with each other and winning their stupid bet.

They just reached the semifinals and the referee started the game when the other four were already bickering and taunting each other but Alya had just enough of this. She grabbed a ball, locked eyes with a huge guy on the other team then as the match began she just threw the ball right onto his hands – he dropping his own ball out of surprise – earning a shocked face from her opponents.

''Free me from this hell hole already!" She said, closed her eyes and holding her arms wide open awaiting her fate.

''Alya!" The superduo shouted in unison but her action was so unexpected they had no time to react and soon enough a ball hit the girl lightly on her left leg and a sigh a relief escaped her lips while her face lit up with joy only a patient freed from their pain can understand.

This stopped the bickering between Alix and Kim just enough to distract them and the momentary drop of defense was enough for a member of the enemy's team to throw a ball right into Kim's stomach causing the jock to yelp in surprise. Sadly instead of directing her attention back to the game Alix started to laugh and the same ball bouncing back from Kim was thrown at her with full force and hit.

''What the hell?!" She jumped grabbing her arm in disbelief.

''Woah, a double kill and a double-double kill in a row from Team Blue! Six, I repeat six players can join Team Blue so they now have no less than 11 competent and clearly determined youngsters up to take down the sport festival's self-proclaimed super team. Team Red is really in a pinch right now! Can they still turn around the situation or this last game brings the end of their winning streak?" Alek shouted through his megaphone and the crowd fell silent not even daring to breath waiting in anticipation to the events to unfold.

''Alya, what have you been thinking?!" Nino ran up to her but she didn't even spare a glance to him.

''Yeah, what the heck, Alya?!" Alix tried blocking her way but she pushed through anyway. '' We will lose because of you!"

For this she stopped. ''Nope, we won't, we still have those two idiots there, but if we lose it would be just as much of your fault as mine."

''What?!" The pink-haired girl asked back exasperated from the accusation. At this point Kim joined them too, rubbing his sore stomach.

Alya turned sharply on her heels jabbing her finger right at the shorter girl's chest. ''If you would have paid attention to the match instead of bickering and focusing on your stupid bet the whole time, then maybe you would have seen the ball coming in your direction so the opposite team would have only gotten one more player while we lost one. Or better, we could have already won the game and went home victorious, but all you people cared about was your own stupid shit, so don't you dare pointing fingers at me when you both can thank yourself and the two idiots over there!"

Alix and Kim scoffed at this. ''Well… maybe we weren't exactly concentrating on the match. But you still let yourself be eliminated on purpose and with a double kill nevertheless!" Kim pointed out while scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment.

The ladyblogger sighed shaking her head. ''Okay, maybe I went a little too far, but those two were driving me nuts. I couldn't even get my hands on a ball without either of them jumping on me to 'protect' me."

''I hope you're happy." Chloe said appearing with Sabrina and Max on her side. ''Now we're up against 11 people with only 2 on our side. Our money was always on these two's victory so if they lose not only our popularity but our budget too will feel the backlash."

Alya gritted her teeth. Okay, maybe this wasn't the best idea. Maybe she should have just switched with somebody before the match started. But what's done is done, the only think she could do now was damage control.

''Max?"

The boy adopted a serious expression as he looked through his data. ''I'm afraid Chloe's fears are not baseless. While both of them gave us some surprises in the past few hours there is still little chance we can win this, only if the two work together. But they, while having the best skill set to form the perfect team, didn't really show any real team work since the first game. More so, their continuous bickering only emphasized their individual abilities leaving any short of cooperation behind."

''Well, you can fall the biggest from the top it seems." Nino draped his arm around her shoulder trying to comfort her.

''I'm really sorry guys." Alya whispered.

''So what's now?" Kim asked looking over to their teammates desperately trying to dodge the incoming balls without much chance to fight back.

''We can only hope they get their shit together and work as a real superduo for once." Chloe spat out and everybody turned to watch the match.

Every gaze was glued to the two players who tried to avoid being caught by each and every ball thrown in their direction. Dodging every ball was a feat in its own but eliminating their opponents was nearly impossible this way and there was no chance they could win the game only by dodging. They needed a play and they needed it right now.

''What if we catch the balls and eliminate them that way?" Adrien asked breathlessly as he did a somersault barely getting out of the ball's way.

''Wouldn't work." Marinette replied jumping up then doing a black-flip. ''While you catch one ball you stay in position and you need to move if you want to survive."

''Then what? Use one of us as bait while the other eliminates as many players as they can?" He went for a grab but had the jump back so another ball wouldn't hit him.

''Too risky, one ball accidentally touching the other and we're both out." She ducked below seized a ball and quickly threw it but it didn't hit. She cursed under her breath.

''Then we have to come up with a way to deflect balls so we don't have to move all the time!" He slid on the floor while maneuvering with his arms. He finally grabbed a ball and threw it but had similar luck to his partner.

''10 minutes threshold!" Alek shouted through the megaphone. Their classmates were biting on their nails and pulling on their hair at this point. Max shook his head in defeat.

The duo felt the tension and pressure from the others more than ever.

''Even if we can stay in one place how would we attack if we have to deflect the whole time? It's not like one of us could…" Marinette began to say but cut herself off, her eyes widening with sudden realization. ''That's it! Chat, I mean, Bug…!" She shook her head and didn't understand why Chat's name came to her mind automatically. ''Behind me, back to back!"

Before Adrien could dwell on her intentions her firm tone got his body to react without thinking doing so as he was just told, but the familiarity of the situation resonated in him. A moment later he was shoulder to shoulder with her positioning his head so he could see what was happening in the front. Their opponents grinned and didn't hesitate to target the one player they could reach together.

Balls flew in their direction in a slow motion in Marinette's eyes and she dodged the first few while her partner perfectly shadowed her every move. Then when an obviously not dodge-able one came she already had a grab on one ball of her own and deflected the incoming ball and the ones that followed with impeccable exactitude without any of them touching her or her partner in the process.

The other team and the audience were baffled and the mood changed quickly: the formed growled in anger and continued the onslaught while the latter went insane from the sudden turn of events.

''Grab…" She whispered and Adrien immediately knew what to do.

His eyes fixated on an opponent. ''Aim…"

''Switch!" They shouted in unison and with a swift motion they changed positions, Adrien throwing the ball with full force taking out a player easily then they were back in position in the next moment, Marinette continuing to fend for them.

The excitement grew as they did the same trick again, eliminating another opponent.

''Judge, is that even allowed?" One of the other team's supporters shouted from the crowd.

''As long as a ball thrown by a member of the other team doesn't hit them directly, meaning it has to touch them either on their torso or one of their limbs, they can continue to play. Defending yourself with a ball is not against the rules." The judge calmly answered gaining a few annoyed scoffs but mostly supportive whistles from around them.

''Shouldn't we switch, Chat? It hurts to say, but my reflexes are better than yours." The bugboy asked while his eyes zeroed on his next target.

''And that's why you can follow my movements better. Beside, with your experience in basketball I'm sure you are better at aiming and hitting with balls." She answered with a grin and he smiled at the compliment. Still, it somehow bothered him he couldn't be the one protecting her.

''Go catgirl, I bet 50 Euros on you!" A formally dressed man shouted and one of the Chat Noire fans slammed catear-headband on him dragging him towards the fan mob to join them.

''Grab…"

''Aim…"

''Switch!"

And another player was eliminated. The other team now was reduced to 7 people. They knew they had to change tactics.

''Let's synchronize our attacks and throw at the same time so she can't possible deflect all of them:" One of them said while they continued to target them because if they left only a moment of opening between their attacks the duo would attack immediately.

The others nodded and for the next few seconds everybody stopped for a moment so they could target her at once.

In the next moment seven balls were thrown at the catgirl leaving her no way to dodge or deflect. She knew there was no way out of this and prepared herself for the impact protecting her partner with her own body. Only to be moved just before the balls could reach her.

She was swung around, arms coming up on both sides of her, a firm chest pressed to her back then she heard the impacts. When she opened her eyes she found herself facing away from the other team, Adrien completely wrapped around her.

''Are you okay?" He asked with his green eyes boring into her blue ones.

She looked up at him in disbelief then her disbelief turned into anger.

''Why did you do that?!" She snapped at him, making him take a step back.

''What?!"

''Why did you have to protect me?! It didn't matter which one of us is taken out!"

Adrien drew his eyebrows together in annoyance. ''Yeah, and that's why I protected you."

''You could have used that chance to attack back instead of taking a risky move!" She shouted back gesturing with her arms widely.

''What's your problem?! I just protected you!" He shouted back and was back in her face in the next moment but she didn't back down bumping heads with him without hesitation.

''And I didn't ask you! I don't need to be protected! I don't need others to always take the risk for me!"

''What the hell is your problem?" He growled at her and really couldn't understand what was her problem.

''You're my problem!" She yelled angrily. ''You and Chat and every other idiot who thinks it's good to take unnecessary risk for me!"

He was taken aback by her last statement. Why did she mention his alter ego out of nowhere?

She saw the confusion on his face and growled at herself for her mistake then started to walk away.

''What?" He asked but she just turned away.

''Nothing, nothing at all!" She said between gritted teeth but in the next moment she turned around and marched up to his face yet again. ''No, really, you are my problem! You and your unnecessary bravery!"

To this point the other team was too caught up with the suddenly exploding argument so they didn't make an effort to grab and throw another ball but as a ball slowly rolled to one of the players' feet he got out of his stupor and thought this was the perfect opportunity to take out their last opponent. So he lifted the ball, aimed at the girl and threw it with full force. They weren't even looking and if the boy protected her out of instinct when he was already eliminated… well, the victory would be theirs in that case too.

The duo kept shouting at each other, the ball flying right to Marinette with full speed and then…

Her arm came up from out of nowhere and stopped the ball only the breeze of the impact reaching her and fluttering her unruly hair.

A cold chill ran down on the poor guy's spine as the glowing blue eyes from the wrestling match reappeared and locked onto him.

''Can't you see we have a private conversation over here?" She asked in a dangerously low tone. ''Why can't people just wait till I deal with them?!" Her voice rose in anger and her fingers like iron claws closed on the ball as she prepared herself to throw it.

''CAT-A-CLYSM!"

The ball hit and the other team's middle section was taken out, players flying like bowling pins while their teammates followed them with their gazes. The huge impact was followed by a moment of silence then all the remaining members lifting their arms up running from the court as fast as they could.

The crowd went insane.

''Well…" Alek started searching for words. ''I think Team Blue just.. forfeited the match?" He watched them disappear without saying anything more. ''Seems like that to me."

A girl then stepped beside him pulling on his shirt and handing him a note. ''Wait, I just received something. Ow, looks like the other finalist gave up the last match after witnessing this last round. This means the Superduo's team wins Dreadful Dodgeball as well making them the ultimate champions! I hope you guys bet well, I surely did!" Alek shouted grinning and the fans swarmed the court lifting Chat Noire onto their shoulders, chanting her name.

Adrien looked at her helplessly, utterly lost at their current standing. How could he have a fight with Marinette of all people? What the hell happened?

He searched for her eyes but when they locked gazes she glared at him angrily and turned away just as she was carried away with the crowd leaving a helpless, confused and sad blond behind.

In the end Chat Noire was named as the ultimate winner of their competitions as her last unleashed-anger-throw was the one making the rest of the team forfeit and scaring away the last team meaning he in the end lost their bet.

~~~oOo~~~

M Damocles were wandering around the stadium in a calm demeanor, keeping an eye out for a certain someone until he found just the person he was looking for. The lady in question was lying comfortably on a very expensive looking sunbed with a matching cocktail, a sunglass concealing her eyes as she gazed upon the commotion surrounding a certain class' final victory while We Are The Champions by Queen played in the background.

''Mlle Bustier, I was wondering where you were the whole time." He walked up next to her taking a seat beside her sunbed. ''I see your class took good care of you."

''M Damocles." The woman raised her sunglass acknowledging his presence. ''Did you enjoy the sportfestival?" She asked with a sweet smile.

''I see you're not bothered by your students' action at all."

''Did they cause so much trouble to you?" She asked sheepishly but her smile didn't waver.

He sighed. ''What else they do all the time?"

''True." She turned back to look over them. ''But they're good kids."

''Oh I'm sure." He waved dismissing the issue with the resigned calmness of a war veteran but some tiredness still sneaked its way into his voice. ''They're just overly talented. I really admire you for dealing with them all the time. If I were you even with the advantage of your youth I'm sure I would have given up long ago not even getting near to school territory ever again!"

She laughed at this. ''Oh my, you're flattering me! But they're the joy of me." Her eyes adopted a fondness as she saw them jump on each other celebrating their well-earned victory. ''Overly talented and energetic youngsters with such diverse personalities I can't wrap my head around how they can make it work, but they do."

M Damocles hummed at this.

Her eyes drifted back to the man beside her and her smile turned mischievous. ''But with all this flattery and you looking for me in the first place I'm assuming you want something from me."

The man coughed upon obviously being caught. ''I fear your students are planning on participating on other events."

''And?" She raised an eyebrow playfully forcing him to be upfront with his request.

''I'm afraid the other classes will be discouraged if that happens. I would like to ask you to keep an eye on them and try to… contain… your students better."

Mlle Bustier lifter her cocktail's straw to her mouth and took a sip. ''I'm sorry but as you can see they made sure I stayed out of way while they're doing all they can to win. Still, I kept them from anything against the rules but you can't possibly ask me to discourage my own students." She placed back her drink on the table beside her bed and reached for a brochure. ''Beside I believe so it's the other teachers' job to keep their students determined and yours to keep things in order."

M Damocles stared at her flatly. ''So you won't interfere no matter what?"

''I wouldn't say no matter what, but as you yourself pointed out just a moment ago I deserve a break after so many years. Me and them both."

The man sighed. ''I can see why you're so good with them."

''Oh don't be so tense, M Damocles." She said handing him the brochure. ''Tomorrow we've an auction to attend."

He glared at the caption 'Miraculous Auction' and felt like he was already starting to get a headache. ''Do you know something perhaps?"

''Nothing. Nothing yet." Mlle Bustier smiled giving one last glance to her class before lying back onto her sunbed again. ''But I'm sure they will come up with something."

Oh how M Damocles wished she wasn't right.


End file.
